Festooned Blinds in reality of life: How different is this inkling than been imprisoned?

One day (yes, yes all stories start with ‘once upon a time’ … J) when sipping early morning energy booster ‘Indian Chai’, looking at a pine tree with blinds on the windows playing pee-a-boo in intervals, I got this thought – Blinds !!!

As most of us have eyes (I believe) whose primary purpose is to help us ‘see’. But do we really see what we are ought to see? Or are eyes just a medium telling us to ‘see’. I haven’t yet quite figured this out. When my eyes kept gazing at the pine tree with birds chirping, welcoming a new day, my thoughts were still in the zone of nostalgia of something already gone. Then I thought, even though eyes try to show us what present moment is but we are mostly controlled by what we think and not what we see.

Thoughts are like mysterious lover. Like a mermaid, so beautifully disguised, like a flush of blood when you see a beloved, like pounding of heart when you hear your name whispered by sweet lips of a lover, like anonymity behind a beautiful smile of a stranger – very enchanting so festooned with blinds called ‘Thoughts’. They dictate ‘eyes’ like waves in the sea, every time different one takes birth, a new vigor, a new intensity but yet never known why they emerge so in brains with such high frequency that humans are still studying 2 hemispheres that control our so called ‘drama of self-preservation - EXISTENCE’.

We blind ourselves in one lifetime in so many ways – During childhood – by ‘innocence’, followed by –  learning of revolutionary actions of changing the world – by being a ‘rebel’, then by unlearning the actions of rebel cult – by acceptance to change ‘thyself’ then slowly merging into depth of collective connectedness to remain accepted, loved and cared at the end.

Thoughts when in present moment act like Adrenaline reservoir to keep things in ‘Action, Action’ just like the way a SS commands to a so called person who is only a ‘number’ now in a concentration camp. Soon bandwagon of life moves on to get the blinds of present dropped off in station called ‘past’ and starts searching blinds for future.

How impressed we become and so thrilled we’ll be to enjoy/suffer what our minds ask us to enjoy/suffer when at the root of all we know, we are only seeing based on the blinds we have on. Each one of us have different garlanded blinds of seeing the same world we live in due to geographical difference, religious conditioning, personal preference etc., (Yes, please add all the traits that one can brand as ‘that’s so not my type’. And my type is – blah blah …. Basically everyone can compartmentalized in one form or the other but its human nature to fight for ‘uniqueness’ – sign of one more blinds)

How different is this living of humans in so called liberated atmosphere than been imprisoned behind bars like a prisoner? We already bars to imprison ourselves – thoughts of our own, which always have some jail warden (rules of society) to monitor us for not fleeing away. Away to a realm of freedom – realm called ‘Oneness with self’ without bars of thoughts caging us.

We are all skeletons disguised with skin and rags with face as masks in varied blinds of thoughts. Garlanded blinds of living, direct us to falling into bucket of ‘I’, to bucket of ‘We’ to bucket of ‘Nothing’ at the end. Individuality to collective connectedness to ‘Nothing’.

‘Nothing’ is the zone we all belong one day. Of pure bliss, of pure no thoughts, of pure pause that one enjoys between 2 thoughts. When all the framed blinds of thoughts are taken away by non-existence of a Skelton and skin, when no eyes exist to be ruled by ‘blinds of thoughts’ that’s when we will see, we will see ‘light’ – light of nothingness. Light of liberation from garlanded cage of thoughts that separates us from so called ‘Life’ – to zone of ‘vision’ at the end. To see vividly why we had ‘eyes’ to start with imprisonment in cage of ‘life’ again.  

- Shilpa 

Mic 1, 2, 3 testing check, check – Do relationships really bring out the macrocosm in you from microcosmic effects?

As sociology sees the macrocosm and microcosm concept of observing the patterns that repeat in smaller groups of individuals whose thinking pattern, behavior is analogous of larger social body encircling it.

Of all the states of living that I ever thought off where this theory could be applied – was human behavior and relationships.

Title seems to be some sort of show is happening right now and mic  – 1, 2, 3 check check – go on guys. Lights, camera, Action – get dancing, sorts of !!! J

Seriously, I feel it is literally a show when seen from eyes of so called ‘top view’ spectator. Or just to zero down when a re-play button is pressed – one’s own voices reverberate to give a feeling of the microcosmic voice within oneself trying to build harmonious connections with macrocosmic resonant part – that all of us have within already. It’s like listening to your own audio tape only with tape recorder being played by that one special being you share life with (Oh yeah, definitely buttons are controlled by the other one in a relationship, not oneself – you are only allowed to sing J)

Now relating the same to human behavior and relationships – Harmonious ones are those which actually bring out the macrocosm in you from all the little microcosmic actions that a partner can actually sustain to do.

We all dwell here on this dimension only to represent a larger self of ours acting in other planes too. So the actions that truly influence your physical reactions are not just from physical body but from a plane higher than that.

And that’s where the ‘energy’ theory kicks in or say ‘Vibes’ or say ‘instincts/gut feeling’ whatever you wanna give the nomenclature as, gets tested bit by bit in a relationship.

Example:

Mic check no. 1 – Love – very big funda indeed – cannot understand even an ounce of it for one whole lifetime I guess J Anyways, coming back to the whole yin yang of macro and microcosm now – is like give and take policy. Barter system – exchange of goods for other goods without any medium. This is mostly the case when thought from logical perspective – and soulful part in this whole deal is that ‘no medium’ is the catch.

We tend and do things for other one like free flowing water of a river or a lake (Microcosmic traits) only to find final destination as a mighty ocean (Macrocosmic concord) when  where both realize the macrocosm in one another’s comfort/love from each one’s microcosmic actions only to be one again to see the harmony together.

Mic check no. 2 – Peace – Very powerful effect indeed that everyone is hungry to experience at the end of the day.

Coming back to ‘check check’ now – in a relationship, going forward this is the strong base, which would hold rest of the love currents spinning. As ‘beloved one’ in your life brings in ever wanting hunger to rest by just being there for one another.

By his/her presence which makes you feel so peaceful that one’s eyes will naturally recognize the macrocosm in self after peace has superseded love for some time. And keep the dance of harmony still in limelight of life, when both are transcending from one stage of self evolvement to its next level as individuals anyways on this earth. 

Mic check no. 3 – Individuality – this one I do not know what to Ball Park as – macro or microcosm --- blink blink – but supposedly as it is my choice now I would zero down it to be a macrocosmic feature of oneself because what we get etched as at the end of life when we have swum in the oceans of love and peace finally to reach the end - to start a journey at the bank of eternity with all that one lil lifetime makes us experience.

And yes as an individual we all have our paved paths of evolvement (Earthily and beyond earth). Differentiator here is: in a relationship how much of this is possible which means how many ‘TRUE’ macrocosmic traits are fanned out like ‘peacock feathers’ when joy/happiness takes over when given liberation (Death) to see yourself as a beautiful human being.

 A sculpture carved by the hands of true love, true peace, a genuine soul mate who would make you that ‘presentable self for you’ by making oneself realize how macrocosmic – universe resonant can a ‘homo sapien’ be when journey together of ‘silence’ starts.

True potentiality of human being as an individual can be realized largely when soul mates (maybe parents, companion, best friend, siblings, children, strangers etc.,) offer those little microcosmic chances to express the way ‘however you are born’!!!

Great deal of acceptance/unconditional love and peace is needed to mend or carve the crude rock into a beautiful sculpture bit by bit – one painful hit after the other, one scene after the other. One day of life after the other. One phase of relationship after the other. One big family after the other.

Finally, one lifetime after the other. Only to know in next life – that we are beautiful self of macrocosmic traits earned from all the events in one lil life from microcosmic etching, only to dance, to the song of harmony again!!!

- Shilpa 

‘The one’ – is it really someone called ‘The One’?

When someone asks about, ‘who could be your ‘The One’ that you are in search off? ‘The Place’ you wanna go, ‘The moment’ you wanna live forever etc., ….. I wonder is there something really called ‘The One’, ‘The place’, ‘The moment’ present here? I think it is not.

Whatever is ‘The’ right now will not remain ‘The’ after its beat of passion is gone. Something else lines-up to take its place but you remain constant in some search of a similar feeling in different loops. What trait we like in one person after the charm of time engulfs us slowly that ‘The Trait’ fades into memory. ‘The one’ has also changed and so are you.

In this mysterious loop, where do we draw a line for ‘The one’ is something that I cannot fathom about. How all our ‘The Ones’ are disguised into relationships is like a carnival!!! Few have names and few do not. To open-up for this flood of experience of oneness, an open eye and moreover a compassionate heart is needed I feel. Non-judgmental trait is a master in this race.

Sometimes we are so busy swimming in the sea of so called ‘Practical Life’ that it doesn’t matter if you don’t listen to this calling. ‘The One’ bumps into us and disappears like a flash of light, leaving a whiff of that new place, new peace, new PULSE sometimes as subtle as wink of eye, once there once gone.

This new feeling leaves oneself to crave for it more and more. It is this ‘Taste of Fervent’ that each one of us search for in many different ways (Friends, partner, parents, children etc.,). ‘The Ones’ when happen in life which I think is sum experience of many people. The channel for that ‘One Pulse’ that clicked your current ‘The One’ may not beat the heart of life to pump love as fuel in each others veins till the end of this life. And then one more loop starts in this search which maybe your friends – ‘The group’ that all together dance on maybe your ‘The One’s’ reconciliation shade that one wants to be colored with for a while. Then, ‘The One’ of root that you come from, to be grounded, to remember the path that one takes in growing up is shared by Parents and siblings. This pulse beats for a while to give a feeling of “HOME” no matter which ever funny loops we take (make up and break ups too J) to explore a safe harbor called ‘The One’.

It’s all a game in the name of ‘Salvation’ where the search is still on for ‘The One’ when we reach last stages of life as well.  We finally keep searching the source we all need to belong to. Search of this perfection in everything/everyone/every event in our life. Including oneself. Different phases of this perfection are the relationships we all get into and sometimes get out of it as well J (Not to mention few are worth getting out !!!)

I think, there is no ‘The One’ in one being. As we ourselves are not one separate entity. We share multitudes of our part with many beings and within us as well. Different stages of this frequency clicks with different people. They bring their own music to our lives, few last as melody to listen to again and again and few as just a yell of voice from some far place. All ‘The Ones’ put together will make our circle of mysterious loop complete when we give ourselves chance to know, feel and realize that ‘many ones’ make ‘The One’ and not just one person for one whole life.

To enclose one’s soul in a safe realm of extreme solace all moments with all ‘The Ones’ will finish this coming back to mortal lives for good, one day !!!

- Shilpa 

Equanimity – A virtue of heart or head?

There is a saying that, ‘opposites get attracted to each other’ but then I keep asking myself sometimes ‘why is that we are in search of likes’? Most of the times we tend to line-up our wish list like:

I want someone like the way I think, like the way I have interests in, wants things like I want etc., so how should we get attracted to the opposite ones then? Mysterious concept.

I really feel composure of heart or head individually has great effects in itself but are we born to explore the differences between them? I suppose yes. I have heard people say, follow your heart …. Take that path less travelled but then how are we sure that the road less travelled is also sometimes not the road to be travelled?  And boom there u go by the calculation of ur head: risks involved, time frame, results etc., so a composed way of neural thinking is also a way to know the road u need to take. It’s like taping a tip of ice berg …… the real competitor still remains ‘go for what ur heart says’ (And wonder what it says) 

In my perspective, I don’t think they both are right individually but together they do form a full circle which I call the ‘Divine Destiny’. To attain this birth right for which we fight whole life – ‘Nirvana’ that which few have attained in the past and few are trying to attain in the present and I wonder how many more are predicted in the future.

What is that tempest that keeps the fire in ur heart alive to finally lead u to equanimity, what is that lucid logical neural pathway that u try to frame which might lead to equanimity; what is that lacuna in the heart which makes us a constant traveler which may lead to equanimity, what if that implausible 98% of the head that is unexplored leads to equanimity?

One time or the other all would have asked this to their conscience knowingly or unknowingly, ‘Balance of head and heart, what is it anyways?’

One has the desire for wants (head) and the other necessity for needs (heart) no surprise where this quote comes from, ‘Blind leading Blind’. Nobody can state the right and wrong doers in this purpose to follow the wants or the needs it is just ‘A CHOICE’ not ‘THE CHOCE’.

Whatever the tempo we choose to dance for in this short period of life we at least end up getting light at the end to see that ‘Equanimity’ that was always etched as a trait on your soul – which we all are born with from the beginning whether this moment is the virtue of heart or head you’ll know when it takes over at the end. 

Expectation: How much of it is real?

It really amazes me sometimes; I take the same path everyday to office, same number of footsteps, same traffic lights, same shops I cross-by but everyday its new thought that keeps me occupied when I take this short walk to office. This morning when I was crossing the road on my way to office, I saw a mirage on the surface of a bumpy road curvature; far ahead of my distance and that was it ….. this is what the article was waiting for to be written on I guess. ‘Expectation’

I feel expectation is like an argument, it has two sides. One is your side and the other side is reality. As human beings its natural tendency with the emotions we are wired for to expect and to be expected. Just like to love and to be loved. But the difference maker here is, ‘vision’ (Inner sense with what you see).

The argument from human being’s end is, expectation is like a mirage, you know from far it’s real, shimmering, all beautiful as it has light (hope/dreams) but when you get closer and closer to the road one gets to know that there was nothing existed before and ever was – which is reality. We have this tendency to expect things certain way, expect people to react in certain way, expect things to work in certain way it is all ‘I WANT IT THAT WAY’ (yeah remembered right song – backstreet boys – I want it that way – it’s so apt for this article :D lucky irony)

Hallucination of expectation takes over us so much that we forget the fact that we WERE NOT supposed to expect anything in REALITY. As what u want is what you expect but what you NEED is most of the times called ‘REALITY’, which is simple but disguised so beautifully (Like a mermaid) that we seldom make effort to see what is simple. Vanishes quickly and becomes a haze.

Buddha says, ‘Desire is the root cause of all miseries’. I would wish to add this piece of line to it, ‘Expectation is the 2^nd most root cause to almost all miseries’. We advocate the argument if not all the times but most of the times on our side so stereotypically by expecting things/actions of people around us in such and such certain patterns; that we blind ourselves to see what is in reality. We institutionalize ourselves. That is where the relationships come in. Give and take. How much to give and how to take.  Sometimes how much NOT to give and how much NOT to take (whether it is happiness, pain, care, open heart to know someone et al, all their relatives: D)

I call the rhythm of this argument, ‘you me’ song of dance. Every time you sing (scream) ‘YOU’ – you are expecting something you WANT. And resonating to this verse, universe/reality/world/practicality (phew so many faces of truth) sings back saying ‘ME’ – What is really NEEDED to make a move called ‘Life’.

To make peace within oneself, one has to take this risk, make a change to shift the prospect of expectations.  we are bound to take the high road and know the legitimacy of our true self, of our core nature of simple being. I wouldn’t say, don’t expect, expect but from SELF from veracity that is you that is all of us so that we will get it for sure !!!!


~Shilpa 

Let Go: What are we then?

It’s been again quite some wait to give the blog its article. I did not know myself that a routine phenomenon of changing season would make me think on this topic.

The season of beautiful colors, ‘FALL’ is on right now. One late evening when returning from a grocery shopping made me see this wonderful feature in a tree under the indistinct street light. The tree leaves had completed turned yellow and it looked so picturesque and live.

I then personified the tree to be a human.  What would be the traits that we would wanna change over and over again to become scenic or otherwise.  Or in the other way round, what the things we wanna ‘LET GO’ off like the foliages to know the strength of our roots.

As someone said, ‘it takes one to see one’. It takes effort to meet the unknown you and know what the other you is all about without inhibitions and attachments.  The way how we all are created.

How seldom we think about the let go nature of ours. What are we when we let go of few things that we always cling to: 
    - Name is the basic one - which fuels up the fire of egocentricity more and more when not channelized as light.
   -  Hegemony of things around us – for once we make peace and forgive that person or forgive the moment, we liberate not only the other from the vicious circle that runs unknowingly in each other’s minds. Moreover, we liberate ourselves from been involved further more. 
   - Dissoluteness - Part of us is just not us but others always.

I wonder, what are we when we let go of all these things? When all the leaves are withered off like a barren tree (No name, fame money, honey and what not). The remains of branches and twigs reminding what we harbored to be something magical are no more for sometime. Blank blank …. And many a times blink blink not knowing what we would be. But the roots to bring all this back are still intact. Roots of our serenity to connect to the self.

1^st thought that came into my mind when we let go most of the things was, ‘PARTICLE’. When we liberate ourselves from all the things that we are associated with and emotions that cling to the acts of doing more of it. We become one among the bigger picture called ‘Particle of consciousnesses’.

I read this quote as a daily inspiration: “of what is the body made? It is made of emptiness and rhythm. At the ultimate heart of the body, at the heart of the world, there is no solidity... There is only the dance.” 

Emptiness of the known and unknown attachments. Rhythm of known and unknown detachments. Finally, at the end when salvation kisses your forehead, the ecstasy of been liberated is to know there is no solidity of things we cling to but the will of void to let go!!!!

~Shilpa 

sanely insane: what is really a sober state?

It’s not a usual question that someone asks you in the morning when you start off your day at work: ‘what do you think of life at this point?’ And when this question was asked to me one day, it made me put my thinking hat on and kinda contemplate what I feel about life this day?

And quickly I tried to recollect, if any of the experiences in this month could give me a clue to answer this question. And I was simply surprised when the usual walk back home after work could do this job.

The air conditioning in my office is so really wonderful that it allows my jacket/cardigans/sweat shirts to flaunt their beauty even during peak summer. And when I take my walk back to home, the moment I come out of the building it is then I realize that the weather outside is really not the rostrum for jackets LOL

But the day when this question was asked to me, the sudden effect of having the realization of NOW that is it hot outside I just need to act sanely and help myself get some cool breeze was the trigger to brood over so many different patterns of other questions. That is when I thought it’s time that my blog gets a feast of delicious food to enjoy after really long time. A ‘thought’ to ‘think’ upon in higher perspective (considering all the dimensions) – SANITY or INSANITY, which the state of mind we really are in?  

The insane/ulterior acts like: Greediness, cruelty, dictatorial, manipulative trait etc., are not something that happens by chance but by choice. Sometimes these activities of thinking is so much disguised in getting/planning things brilliantly for wrong motives that we give it the name as necessity when one steps upon somebody else’s chance of getting the same opportunity, domineer just because you want something that the other person isn’t supportive off, make things obscure for others because oneself isn’t clear about what he/she wants in life etc.,

When one reaches a junction in life wherein all the time in the world you have is just to reflect upon the days a human being has spent in trying to search the purpose of one’s life, I feel there is a very thin line between state of mind responsible for taking sane and insane decisions. We do things in a way which resembles like a sanity check to get insanity as the by product. I wonder why the homosapiens have countenance like this.  If we are wired to do things like these then a question keeps puzzling me: what is really a sober state after all?’

When I tried to search answer to this question I just happen to look at my watch and remembered that it’s time for me to leave office. It is then I got the answer when I exited the doors to take off the jacket as a protective shield from artificial cool air circulation. When I personified this jacket as a shield (necessity, desire, fantasy etc.,) that we all wear assuming we are doing sane things to gift each other insanity at the end.

The saying, ‘Time is a big healer’ is very true as it gives us the chance to experience ‘NOW’ every day. I believe, the natural instincts of the heart to make the decision which gets manifested as harmony within oneself and around is something that is considered SOBER wherein the actions taken by this state of mind has the beauty to get attracted to similar consequences as we go forward and it is then that insanity is consciously cured of it’s inherent malevolence nature in order to get mirrored as sanity. But one has to be always cautious that it’s the silver sheet(realization) which adds the mirroring nature to a glass(life) and the silver sheet gets manufactured by what I term the process as ‘THE NOW EFFECT’ which allows anyone to see the beauty of sanity in themselves.

And in this attempt I also felt that, we may or may not witness the true godly nature in us to do something sane all the time but we are always provided a chance to get connected to the source we come from. 

~Shilpa