Chances

Take your chances, O' lonely soul,
Lest the passions are abating,
Seek the comforts of present not the past, for
The time rushes while these keep on debating.

Worried of the chances that you will lose?
But equal are that of winning, if not more,
What use is such caution in what to choose?
When you remain stuck, stagnant & quite unsure!

Life is short and keeps on fleeting,
While we keep worrying if it will work or won't,
What is the point of doubting & bleating?
When it's our effort that it'll do or don't!

Immortal Talks - A Book Review

“Are you aware that you are not a body? You have a body.” chorused the elder Mahtangs.

Introduction:
GENRE: Spirituality
AUTHOR: Shunya
PAGES:160
YEAR OF PUBLISH: 2017

Mahtangs (better known as Mathangs) are the tribal people residing in the forests of Mount Piduru in Sri Lanka. This tribe, similar to the sentinelese, choose to be cut off from modern civilisation but save for this they cannot be more different from the sentinelese. Mathangs are the followers of Lord Hanuman and descendants of Vibhishana, the brother of Ravana from The Ramayana. Apart from this, the Mathangs are said to be very spiritual and with good reason. It is said that the Mathangs are visited by Lord Hanuman in every 41 years. Quite interesting isn’t it?

All of this came to light in the year 2014 when a researcher was studying the behavior of the tribe and completely oblivious at the time as to what he was going to find! Fascinating!

Lord Hanuman is said to be among the 7 people who are said to be immortal. It is believed that every 41 years Lord Hanuman visits the tribe to teach and imbue divine knowledge to them. The Mathangs record the teaching of Lord Hanuman every 41 years in a Log book. Fortunately, the log book is now with an organization called ‘Setu Asia’which is trying to translate the book. Okay this was a short introduction to who the Mahtangs (or Mathangs) really are. Now let’s jump on to the book.

Summary:

The book begins with Hanudas, a devotee of Lord Hanuman, who along with 2 other devotees is following some tribal people in order to observe and try to establish communication with them. Hanudas used to live an elite lifestyle with his family in Toronto and was neither religious nor spiritual. His wife dies in a car accident and later he loses his only son to drugs and paranoid schizophrenia. This leaves him to be completely hollow – ‘like a hoop which lets things pass through it. No sorrow. No pain. No regret.’ It was then that he encounters an unusual scene. He leaves for India and comes in contact with a Guru who gives him the name ‘Hanudas’ and explains to him that it was not a hallucination indeed. Gurudev explains it was because only pure souls can experience that. He explains that Hanudas encountered such a scene because after his son’s funeral his mind was absolutely blank, completely free and detached from everything the external world has to offer –

‘Your soul, like the majority of humans of this era, is asleep. Your soul awoke for a brief period of time on the day you buried your son’

After that moment he experiences a divine epiphany and leaves to wander – in search of nothing – in a pursuit to awaken his soul. He eventually feels that he has reached his destination when he comes across this tribe known as ‘Mahtangs’. He along with 2 more sages tries to approach the tribe but are rebuked by the leader and hence finds himself following and observing the tribe. Very soon he deciphers the meaning of the set of seven symbols he had collected from the Mahtangs. It translated as follows: ‘The immortal Lord Hanuman comes every 41 years to impart supreme knowledge to his disciples, the Mahtangs’. Over the course of next several months, he collected thousands of such symbols, or the puzzles wherin lay enshrined the entire knowledge Lord Hanuman imparted to his disciples.
He, with the help of other sages, deciphers these puzzles and documents them. These finding are henceforth explained in the form of different chapters in this book.

My Review:

The religion – Hinduism (it actually is Sanatan Dharma) – is the oldest religion that exists today. It is the only religion in which even if you are an atheist, you are still a Hindu. It is the choice of the seeker whichever and whatever form of god he/she wants to embrace. Even the belief that he/she does not believe in god is a form of belief and hence that person is still a Hindu. It is a religion which is based on the practice of looking for the absolute truth which involves science more than anything. I will not be exaggerating when I confidently claim that all the things that modern science is discovering now has already been mentioned in the Vedas and Upanishads many thousands of years ago. It is more about Spirituality than being a ‘Religion’ in the strictest sense of the meaning of the word, and is FAR different from what is perceived by the masses. It is a way of Life, which is clearly evident by the contents of this book.

The book is written in a very simplistic manner which enables the reader to understand even the most complex workings of the truth of what the soul is, what is life, the movement of the soul from one body to another, the life and death cycle, the Karma-Desire, etc. If I have to describe my experience of reading this book in one word, I will choose – enlightening. The way in which everything was explained is very simple and effective. The reader is able to imagine every scene as if it is happening right before their eyes. The way in which everything is explained is extraordinarily simple, effective and quite enjoyable at the same time. The prologue of the book describes how Hanudas comes to find all the symbols and puzzles and the rest of the book in chapters and in the form of stories of the same tribe explains the subtleties of the extraordinary way in which the universe works, who we are and how to get out of this endless cycle of birth and death in Maya.

Those of you do not know, Maya is everything you experience. It is everything that you sense i.e., see, feel, hear, taste, touch. Maya is said to be an illusion. It is the physical world which follows the rules of space-time and the human soul which is stuck in this Maya thinking that it is the only reality experiences endless cycle of birth and death. The purpose of the human soul is to break this cycle and attain Moksha viz., unification with the absolute – the Bramh.

The book along with this also explains what the soul really is. How it goes from one body to another and what it experiences when it is out of a body. Not only this, the book also explains the type of souls there are, what are the characteristics of the soul which resides in birds, animals and humans. The struggle between the soul to be free from the shackles of birth and death and the limitations posed by the human body which understands this world to be the only reality and the Karma-Desire scale of balance is beautifully explained in one of the chapters titled ‘The Mermaid’ in the form of a story.

I definitely enjoyed reading this book. I’d say that it must be read at least once in a lifetime irrespective of which religion, caste or sex you belong to, or what belief system you have. Read this with an open mind because as the Vedas says, there is only one absolute truth rest everything is different realities varying from person to person.

The Mango Tree

There I was, sitting under the Mango tree planted in the front yard of my home. My track pant was smudged with earth along with my T-shirt as if I had been rolling around in the mud but I couldn’t care less. I used to live in one of those big government quarters provided by the Indian Railways to its employees. Mine had a few trees in the front yard, enclosed inside the boundary made by the thick Iron wire fence. It was the time of summer holidays, a time when I could ignore the massive amount of homework that had been given to us by our sadistic teachers (Pun intended) and quite simply spent my day loitering around in my front yard or if it was too hot outside, playing video games or watching movies on repeat from the collection of movies I collected over time in the form of CDs. DVD players were still new in the market at that time and used to cost a lot, we had a CD player which we never upgraded.

I sat there and I noticed a mango hanging from a branch. There were many mangos on the tree, it being the start of summer, but this one was ripe and yellow as opposed to all the other green ones and was somehow unscathed from the taste buds of parrots and other birds. I kept gazing at it for a few seconds. It was quite high and I was never a good climber. I gave sweeping look to the branches that were closest to the ground but there were no ripe mangos there. The rarity of this one mango fathered the desire to possess and eat it. The knowledge that fruits, especially from this tree, being delicious intensified the desire even more. I had to eat it!

Therefore, to achieve this I started formulating ways with which I can get it. I picked up a stone and threw it at the mango. It narrowly missed. However, after one throw I immediately abandoned this method. What will happen the stone successfully hit the mango? The mango being ripe with undoubtedly be scarred and there are chances it will not break away from the branch. The sight of the fruit was so mouth-watering and elating that I did not want even a small dent on its surface. I wanted to pluck it, admire it, delicately peel and slice it, piece by piece and eat it, not wasting even a drop of its juice. I had to find some other method to get it before any bird does.

I picked up a stick that I found lying near the tree and tried to swing it in such a way that it strikes the stalk but not the mango. No luck! There were too many branches in the middle to maneuver the stick with the requisite angle and force. I threw the stick on the ground and stood there gazing at the fruit for a few moments trying to conjure up any other idea for getting that fruit out of that branch and into my hands. Nothing came to my mind except a big blank. The only thing my brain kept getting back to was trying to climb the tree. Now the people who know how to climb a tree know that climbing up is not the hard part, it is climbing down that is difficult. Devoid of any other option, I tried climbing the tree. It was hopeless; I kept skidding down.

Defeated, I thought of giving it one last try, gathered my energy and tried again. This time I went farther than any time I tried before. But SMACK! The fall was equally hard. Although it was not as high as to have done any serious damage, I landed directly on my left foot. A pain shot through from my leg. I had sprained my ankle! Dreading the cussing and scolding that was to come I slowly limped on one leg towards the door to the Drawing room of my home. With a thumping heart, I opened the door. My mother was sitting there watching some dumb Indian Soap opera with an hour episode consisting of at least 20 minutes of moving close up shots of the actors and 15 minutes of advertisements. She did not notice me limping through the door. I saw that she was engrossed in watching T.V. and so I decided to limp silently to the bedroom before she notices. To muffle the sound of my limping I stepped onto the carpet. Whenever any background music came onto the soap opera, which was plenty of times actually, I used it to limp towards the bedroom door.

I finally reached the door. Taking a huge sigh of relief I leaned on the door without realizing that doorstopper was not in place. CRASH! The door banged on the wall and I was on all fours on the ground. It was seconds before my mother came running inside and looking at me spread-eagled on the ground, her first reaction was narrowing her eyes with malice.

“Oh crap” I thought, as I knew what was about to come.

Before I knew it I was being helped up on my feet with the shrill scolding of how she cannot even sit calmly and idly even for a minute. She did not know that I sprained my ankle. And she can never know that I did that trying to climb the Mango tree outside. Taking a small loss for a short time is better than a big loss for a longer duration. So when she enquiringly looked at my leg while I stood there limping on my right leg, I told her that I put my right leg on the door to fold up my track pant bottoms and I did not realize the door stopper was not in place which crashed the door and I fell and sprained my left ankle.

I know right! What a pitiful excuse and she suspected it for some time but as she did not hear me limping back inside and there was nothing else in the bedroom which might indicate otherwise, she accepted my dumb excuse.

So for a few minutes, I got to hear the usual cussing and fussing while my foot was been treated to a bucketful of hot and salty water. But I was not paying attention. My falling and then my mother helping me up with her hand and me standing on one leg clutching her shoulder gave me an excellent idea!

After a whole day and a whole night’s rest, I started feeling a little better. The pain in my ankle was subsiding. After waking up the next day, I decided to test my idea. So I waited till noontime and then I silently went back outside with a plier, duct tape and thread. I reached the tree whereby I had dropped the stick and praying that no bird had eaten the fruit, I looked in the direction of the mango. It was still there – unscathed and uneaten. Relieved, I picked up the stick and started walking towards the fence.

I found and cut a small part of the thick iron wire jutting out of the fence, the removal of which will not cause any damage to the fence (there were many such places on the boundary). I took out the duct tape and tied the wire to the stick. For double precaution that it should not slip out, I left a small part of the exposed at the tied end and tightly tied that part to the stick using the thread applying three-four knots. I then used the pliers and started bending the free end of the wire attached to the stick in the form of a hook.

I took the stick to the tree. Maneuvering the stick, I placed the hooked end of the wire around the stalk of the mango and pulled. With a plucking sound, the mango dropped and I caught it. I placed the stick near the tree and feeling elated, I went back inside with the mango in my hand.

पाप की परिभाषा

आज के कलियुग में जहाँ
पाप-व्यभिचार सदा-सद पलता है
इस शहर-उस शहर, हर नगर, हर देश से
हंसते-मुस्कराते, हाथ हिलाते, सिर उठा निकलता है।

राह चलते हुए राहगीरों को वह पकड़ता है
हर किसी के मन को वह अंततः जकड़ता है
और गलत राह पर ले जा कर वह अकड़ता है

(जो मन मे एक बार पाप को बसा लेता है तो उसे निकलना मुश्किल हो जाता है। पाप यहां मन में बैठ कर यह बता रहा है कि वह क्या है)

कहता है, "मैं हूं यहां, इस देश और विदेश में,
मैं ही वासना, मैं ही चिंता , मैं ही कुंठा, मैं ही मन के द्वेष में,
घूमता हूँ मैं यहां सब मानवों के वेश में!

और पार नहीं पा सकते हो तुम मुझसे या मेरे किसी भी नाम से,
नहीं निकल सकते फिर मेरे किसी काम के अंजाम से
घर कर लेता हूँ फिर मैं उस पवित्र आत्मा के रूप पे,
नहीं जा सकते हो तुम फिर ऊपर कहीं इस धाम से!

छोड़ूँगा तो नहीं मैं तुमको अपने किसी खयाल से,
और मुक्त नहीं होने दूंगा मैं तुमको माया के इस जाल से!
मैं खड़ा हूँ राह पर तुम्हारे बनकर एक आसान रास्ता,
हाथ थामोगे तो उठा दूंगा तुम्हारी सच्चाई पर से आस्था!

और तुम नहीं राम कि मुझको तुम मार सकोगे,
न ही तुम हो कृष्ण, न्याय की राह तुम पहचान सकोगे!
न तुम अर्जुन, न तुम भीष्म, न तुम धर्मराज हो,
न तुम लक्ष्मण, न तुम भरत, न रघुवंश तुम आज हो!

कहाँ पर भागोगे जब तुम्हारे मन को मैं हथियूंगा?
कितना पुण्य कर पाओगे जब हर ओर से घिर आऊंगा?
मैं ही था वो जिसने सदियों पहले मंदिरों को जलवाया था,
मैं ही था जिसने नालंदा और तक्षिला को मिटाया था,
मैं ही था वो जिसने मुगलों से खूनी खेल खिलवाया था,
वह भी मैं ही था जिसने चित्तोड़ दुर्ग में माताओं को आग में धकेला था,
और जालियांवाला के खूनी खेल का भी मैं कारण अकेला था!


फिर भी अचंभित होकर डरता हूँ खत्म हो जाऊंगा,
एक उम्मीद की छोटी किरण से भी जलकर भस्म हो जाऊंगा!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9ISBTgCjWo&t=82s

यह प्रेम नहीं

(इस कविता में जो लिखा है उसका अर्थ तो समझिए ही साथ ही साथ उसके उलट जो आज के युग में होता है वह भी सोचिये)
(कविता को लयबद्ध पद्य की शैली में लिखा है, यदि उस लहजे से पढ़ा जाए तो अलग आनंद मिलेगा 🙂)

काल का चक्र जो चलता है,
किसी के लिए नहीं ये रुकता है,
किसी को ऊंचाई पर पहुंचाता है,
किसी को पैरों तले कुचलता है।


दुनिया में गलत बहुत सी रीति हैं,
क्यों समझते नहीं जीने का नाम युद्ध है, न कि प्रीति है,
संघर्ष की अग्नि में ध्यानमग्न जो होता है
सही समझता है - जीने का अर्थ संघर्ष है, अंधा प्रेम एक कुरीति है।
अब ठहरो! क्या इसका अर्थ जानना चाहोगे?
क्या इस कथन की गहराई को नापना तुम चाहोगे?
यदि हां तो सुनो, सोचो और आत्मदर्शन भी करते जाओ।
जो अब तक समझते थे उसको किनारे करते जाओ।


प्रेम एक शाश्वत विषय है,
तपते जीवन में आश्रय है,
मगर प्रेम का नाम जब लेते हो,
जीवन में क्या क्या कहते और करते हो।
इसकी व्याख्या तो अब धुल सी गयी है,
इस युग के अंधड़ से ज्योत तो इसकी बुझ सी गयी है।


वासना में बंधकर जीना प्रेम नहीं,
किसी को मुश्किलों की मझधार में छोड़ना प्रेम नहीं,
क्या सड़कों पर शाम को भूखे बच्चों को तुमने देखा है?
हाथों में हाथ डाल हंसते नज़रअंदाज़ करते उन सड़कों पर टहलना प्रेम नहीं।
नहीं है प्रेम अपनी शामों को व्यर्थ करना मदिरा अंकित जज्बातों पर,
अरे प्रेम तो है दुश्मन को ले कर मर मिटना भारत की इस माटी पर।
और जिसने सिखाये तुमको इस जमाने के अर्थ हैं उसको ठुकरा दो,
उनके पढ़ाये हुए उन खोखले आदर्शों को तुम दफना दो।
प्रेम नहीं बल्कि अपनापन साधारण मनुष्यों की अभिलाषा है,
प्रेम तो केवल कुछ वफादार जीवों की ही भाषा है।
इस आधुनिक युग का "प्रेम" बस एक ढोंग एक तमाशा है,
प्रेम का सत्य तो बस माता-पिता के कर्मों की परिभाषा है।
प्रेम नहीं समृद्धि में अग्रसर हो मूल्यों को भुलाते जाओ,
और प्रेम नहीं माता-पिता के परिश्रम से कमाए धन को लुटाते जाओ।


प्रेम है जो इस धरती के लिए ही बस जीते हैं,
प्रेम है वो जिनके दिन बस दूसरों के लिए ही बीते हैं,
प्रेम है जो समाज के उद्धार के लिए विष का प्याला पीते हैं।
प्रेम तो आपके सरलतम कार्यों में भी दिखता है,
प्रेम नहीं फेसबुक-इंस्टाग्राम की दुकानों पे बिकता है,
संघर्ष कर स्वयं को मजबूत करना प्रेम है एक,
अपने जीवनसाथी के त्यागों को मानना भर भी प्रेम है एक,
परिजनों की डांट को चुपचाप सुनना भी प्रेम है एक,
हर सुबह अपने-अपने कार्यालयों की तरफ निकलते हो
वृद्धों के लिए अपनी गाड़ी को रोकना भी प्रेम है एक,
सड़कों पर निकलते हुए वो वीर जवानों से भरी गाड़ियां देखी हैं?
नज़र उठाकर कुछ पलों के लिए सलाम करना भी प्रेम है एक।


रोज़ाना के जीवन से हताश जब हो जाते हो,
रात को कराह लेकर जब तुम सो जाते हो,
ऐसी दिनचर्या जीने में भी बलिदान है एक,
आपके कर के पैसों से देश चलता है, यह भी प्रेम है एक।

सब चुप क्यों हैं?

(कल्पना करिए आप 12-15 वर्ष पहले के भारत में हैं। जैसे जैसे मैं समय में आगे बढूंगा आप समझते जाएंगे)

रोज़ाना चलते जीवन के यापन में,

सब चुप क्यों हैं?

अंतर्द्वंद के स्थापन से भी,

सब चुप क्यों हैं?

 

सर उठा कर देखते हैं जब लोग,

पता लगता है कि रास्ते तो अब खाली है।

खुली आंख से देखते दुनिया को,

संसार की हालत भी निराली है।

आकाश में लोभ के पंछी दिखाई पड़ते हैं,

अपनों के परिवेश में पराये दिखाई पड़ते हैं,

चहुँ ओर स्वार्थ की धुंध का विस्तार है,

मंदिरों की जगह मैखाने दिखाई पड़ते हैं।

सत्य के वाक्यों में बहाने दिखाई पड़ते हैं,

झूठ की हवा भी क्या चली है,

मित्रों में अब अनजाने दिखाई पड़ते हैं।

कौन कहे सत्य और निष्ठा के लक्षण सुप्त क्यों हैं।

जानते हुए भी न जाने सब चुप क्यों हैं?

 

भारतवर्ष के भीतर भी दुश्मन हैं,

द्वेष और क्रोध से भरे ये जाते हैं,

क्षति पहुंचती है जब देश को,

मुख खोल ये गधे-सा मुस्कुराते हैं।

राष्ट्रहित की बात जब होती है,

झूठ फैला ये दंगे भड़काते हैं,

आतंकियों के मरने पर ये,

काली पट्टी बांध संसद में आते हैं,

जी भर के ये आंसू बहाते हैं,

और वर्षों तक बिरयानी उन्हें खिलाते हैं,

AFSPA और TADA जैसे कानून भी हटाते हैं।

तब, आतंकी इतने मुक्त क्यों थे?

ये देख उस समय सब चुप क्यों थे?

 

जब बढ़ा था अंधकार बहुत,

सरकार में आया था अहंकार बहुत,

जनता ने बाहुबल दिखाया था,

लोकतंत्र को सार्थक करवाया था।

उद्दंडता की जब पराकाष्ठा थी,

वंशवाद से मुक्ति की आकांक्षा थी,

विधान-पटल पर सर्द शीत छाई थी,

सरकार जब वामपंथ की अनुयायी थी,

भूमि आतंकित हो दहलाई थी,

पूरे देश की बात तो छोड़िए,

सिर्फ मुम्बई ही कई हमलों से थर्राई थी।

सेना को ज्यादातर निष्क्रियता के आदेश क्यों थे?

नेतृत्व करने वाले तब चुप क्यों थे?

 

संसार का यही नियम है मित्र,

बदलाव ही केवल स्थिरता है मित्र,

वर्षों की विचारधारा से जब अति हो जाती है,

उन्नति की राह में वह अनुपयुक्त हो जाती है।

बदलाव से वही लोग तो डरते हैं,

लूटपाट के स्थापित साधन जिनके हाथ से फिसलते हैं।

विकास के लिए बस इतनी बात ही काफी है,

सिर्फ सौ अपराध की माफी है,

नेतृत्व कोई भी हो -

जब सत्ता शिशुपाल बन जाएगी,

जनता से माफी नहीं वह पाएगी,

द्वेष में दुर्व्यवहार बढ़ेगा जिसका,

सुदर्शन से सर कटेगा उसका।

 

देखें, देखें असत्य के लिए वे कितनी आवाज़ उठाएंगे,

देखें उनके चेले कितनी गोली चलाएंगे,

देखें वे कब तक रक्षकों का लहू बहा पाएंगे,

देखें वे कितने जनों को गुमराह कर पाएंगे,

देखें अपने ढकोसलों से कब तक - "आज़ादी" के नारे लगाएंगे,

देखें वे कब तक पत्थर उठाएंगे,

देखें वे कब तक बसों को जलाएंगे,

देखें वे कितनी पुलिस चौकियों में आग लगाएंगे,

देखें भले लोग भी, आखिर कब तक शांति का पाठ पढ़ाएंगे,

देखें हम सब भी आखिर, कब तक चुप रह पाएंगे।

पार तो फिर भी करना होगा

Inspired from and Dedicated to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

हो राह में यदि आकाश,
सूर्य की तरफ उड़ना होगा,
बीच तड़ित से चमकते बादलों को
पार तो फिर भी करना होगा।

जब नदी में हो वेग गजब,
और नौका फंसी मझधारों में,
धैर्य तो फिर भी धरना होगा,
पार तो फिर भी करना होगा।

विपरीत दिशा की धारा में,
चप्पू चलाते रहना होगा,
प्रखर प्रवाह से टकराएगा पानी तब भी,
पार तो फिर भी करना होगा।

अवरोध बनी हो चट्टानें पथ पर,
उठ, पंख फैला कर उड़ना होगा,
चढ़ कर नहीं तो कूद कर ही सही,
पार तो फिर भी करना होगा।

जीवन नहीं होता किसी के लिए आसान,
जीने का अर्थ समझना होगा,
हाथ बढ़ाकर ही, छीन के अवसर लेना होगा,
पार तो फिर भी करना होगा।

परेशानी-तकलीफें तो आएंगी,
इनसे सीख जीने का आनंद लेना होगा,
हीरा बनने के लिए संघर्ष-अनल में जलना होगा,
पार तो फिर भी करना होगा।

जब भूमि जलते अंगारे हो,
दृष्टि में कहीं न ठंडे किनारे हों,
तब हृदय को पत्थर बना इस अग्निपथ से गुजरना होगा,
यह अग्निपरीक्षा तो देना होगा।

पार तो फिर भी करना होगा
पार तो फिर भी करना होगा।

A Fool still in Love

Every time and again you love me, you say,

I light up then, like a warm summer's day.

In the minutes that come,

I am like a kid,

so full of joy and having fun.

That fun is so much more than you think,

it is blissful, joyous, serene, cheery, sprightly, exuberant.

I pop a smile and I dream,

sitting alone of what the life with you could be.

I start weaving those memories of the future,

scenarios of love playing over and over.

Then I stop!

And suddenly the past comes back,

of what you had always done to me,

practically, stabbed me in the back.

I wonder! Will this time it will be different?

The next day comes and here we are again,

in the same place we always attain.

I lay fallen wretched, in despair,

while you find something else for you to entertain.

And then again, you put me to recycle, repair,

come when bored, to use me as a spare.

No more, I say!

And once again I leave,

with fresh wounds on my heart,

learning to forget, yearning to heal.

And you come again,

again the same cycle begins,

playing on my feelings,

so lovelorn in your dealings,

that me, a fool still in love, fall again.

What is and how to get out of the Social Media trap - My Facebook Theory of 3 strikes and the subtle art of not giving a f**k

(Have you ever felt a sudden urge to open social media and try to make a new friend? Or have you ever felt a sudden pang of loneliness even though you have people around you?)

Hi all,

So what I am about to tell you is my 'subtle art of not giving a fuck' using which you can find who's good for you and who's not (if you are adamant that you are going to use social media anyway) and how you can not let social media affect your well-being. This is applicable on facebook and other social media sites.

So, let's begin.

Okay, so we are all aware about the use of social media and its disadvantages. The so many researchers and psychologists have already pointed them out to us, and there are so many reasons! According to a report of the study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania in Nov 2018, use of social media increases depression and loneliness in individuals along with increasing anxiety and decreasing self-esteem. According to another report in early 2019, psychologists found that social media makes people's behavior to become apathetic towards others, making them self-centered. On introspection you will find this to be quite true. Even if this is not completely applicable to you because you are not a constant user of social media or you do not feel the compulsive urge to take a picture every hour or every day and post it to Instagram of yourself or what you are doing, on thinking about it you will find that this makes perfect sense for the people who do this i.e., you can see how this is applicable to them because the act of updating every little thing on social media marks the psyche of having a need to tell the world what they are doing which in turn shows the self-centeredness of that individual. This shows that slowly and steadily their nature of behavior changes to being selfish - not caring about anyone else but feeling a constant need to satisfy oneself in terms of social validation in social media and real life. This behavior is worrisome especially when the majority of the population on social media is between 12 to 22 years of age.

Try to imagine this, you like a girl so naturally you want to talk to her to get to know her, so you send her a friend request, she accepts. Now you send her a message - you say hello- and await for her reply. She sees your message but does not reply anything back. How do you feel? You feel neglected (I know I have felt that way), even abandoned in some cases. If you take a good look at your account, you will find that out of so many of your 'friends' spanning from hundreds to thousands, you actually know a very few of them, fewer in real life. And this is where my method come in. So, my theory is that the people in your friend list must justify that they are your 'friends' because what is the use of having people in your friend list with whom you have never even had a conversation or who will never come out to help you when you are really in need in real life. What use is keeping such people in your list? It is like doing 'Lean Management' of social media. What is the use of keeping people who cannot add value or contribute in any way to your growth in life (Getting likes on your pics or a mere display of number of the amount of friends in your friend list is Not adding value).

In order to achieve this what I do is I open my friend list and I check how many people do I know and with how many I had a conversation with. The rest I remove from my friend list. Simple, huh? Well, not for the type of people I mentioned in the beginning. It is like quitting alcohol for an alcoholic or like quitting cigarette for a chain smoker. They experience a satisfaction due to their approval seeking behavior and that is how they validate themselves by the amount of likes they get or the increasing numbers in their friend list.

Now this piece of advice is for guys only:
So guys, you remember when your request was approved by a very cute girl and you sent her a message but she never gave any response even after seeing your message? Let me break something to you, if you ever see a girl's account (Oh yes, I have seen) what you'll find is that just like you there are hundreds of other guys who behaved just like you did. So, what to do? What I do is when I see a girl whom I don't really know to be online, I say hello. If there is no response then just move on and the next time I see her online, I again say hello. I do this 3 times in total - 3 strikes! If after that there is no reply, I simply send her an additional message telling her that I am removing her (and not in the angry, egotistical way) and I remove her. What happened was that you tried getting to know a new person but since there was no response, it was like talking to a wall. So instead of sulking over it and enabling the social media to develop that same habit of seeking approval in you (which will gradually and silently metamorph into the psyche I mentioned above) and subsequently feeling sad about it, what you did was you nipped that habit in the bud by letting the attachment for that unknown person go. So in your subconscious mind, you simply didn't gave a f**k about it. Make sense?

So, what are your thought about this? Agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments below.

The Poet

Is a poet not a poet unless he is known?
Or unless his name, upon the carcass of a tree,
Blinding, in golden letters beautifully shone?
Is he not someone, to lead with might,
and raise a din of soundless voice,
to address every whim in the world's plight?
It is said, 'The pen is mightier than the sword'
Or sometimes it may be so true,
For a humble poet writes and stays,
to his intentions, sincere and in lieu.

Immortal Talks - A Book Review

“Are you aware that you are not a body? You have a body.” chorused the elder Mahtangs.

 

Introduction:
GENRE: Spirituality
AUTHOR: Shunya
PAGES:160
YEAR OF PUBLISH: 2017 

 

Mahtangs (better known as Mathangs) are the tribal people residing in the forests of Mount Piduru in Sri Lanka. This tribe, similar to the sentinelese, choose to be cut off from modern civilization but they cannot be more different from the sentinelese. Mathangs are the followers of Lord Hanuman and descendants of Vibhishana, the brother of Ravana from The Ramayana. Apart from this, the Mathangs are said to be very spiritual and with good reason. It is said that the Mathangs are visited by Lord Hanuman in every 41 years. Quite interesting isn’t it?
All of this came to light in the year 2014 when a researcher was studying the behavior of the tribe and completely oblivious at the time as to what he was going to find! Fascinating!
Lord Hanuman is said to be among the 7 people who are said to be immortal. It is believed that every 41 years Lord Hanuman visits the tribe to teach and imbue divine knowledge to them. The Mathangs record the teaching of Lord Hanuman every 41 years in a Log book. Fortunately, the log book is now with an organization called ‘Setu Asia’which is trying to translate the book. Okay this was a short introduction to who the Mahtangs (or Mathangs) really are. Now let’s jump on to the book.

 

Summary:

 

The book begins with Hanudas, a devotee of Lord Hanuman, who along with 2 other devotees is following some tribal people in order to observe and try to establish communication with them. Hanudas used to live an elite lifestyle with his family in Toronto and was neither religious nor spiritual. His wife dies in a car accident and later he loses his only son to drugs and paranoid schizophrenia. This leaves him to be completely hollow – ‘like a hoop which lets things pass through it. No sorrow. No pain. No regret.’ It was then that he encounters an unusual scene. He leaves for India and comes in contact with a Guru who gives him the name ‘Hanudas’ and explains to him that it was not a hallucination indeed. Gurudev explains it was because only pure souls can experience that. He explains that Hanudas encountered such a scene because after his son’s funeral his mind was absolutely blank, completely free and detached from everything the external world has to offer – 
‘Your soul, like the majority of humans of this era, is asleep. Your soul awoke for a brief period of time on the day you buried your son’
After that moment he experiences a divine epiphany and leaves to wander – in search of nothing – in a pursuit to awaken his soul. He eventually feels that he has reached his destination when he comes across this tribe known as ‘Mahtangs’. He along with 2 more sages tries to approach the tribe but are rebuked by the leader and hence finds himself following and observing the tribe. Very soon her deciphered the meaning of the set of seven symbols he had collected from the Mahtangs. It translated as follows: ‘The immortal Lord Hanuman comes every 41 years to impart supreme knowledge to his disciples, the Mahtangs’. Over the course of next several months, he collected thousands of such symbols, or the puzzles wherin lay enshrined the entire knowledge Lord Hanuman imparted to his disciples.
He, with the help of other sages, deciphered these puzzles and documents them. These finding are henceforth explained in the form of different chapters in this book.

 

My Review:

 

The religion – Hinduism (it actually is Sanatan Dharma) – is the oldest religion that exists today. It is the only religion in which even if you are an atheist, you are still a Hindu. It is the choice of the seeker whichever and whatever form of god he/she wants to embrace. Even the belief that he/she does not believe in god is a form of belief and hence that person is still a Hindu. It is a religion which is based on the practice of looking for the absolute truth which involves science more than anything. I will not be exaggerating when I confidently claim that all the things that modern science is discovering now has already been mentioned in the Vedas and Upanishads many thousands of years ago. It is more of Spirituality than a ‘Religion’ in the truest sense and is far different from what is perceived by the masses. It is a way of Life. And this is clearly evident by the contents of this book.
The book is written in a very simplistic manner which enables the reader to understand even the most complex workings of the truth of what the soul is, what is life, the movement of the soul from one body to another, the life and death cycle, the Karma-Desire, etc. If I have to describe my experience of reading this book in one word, I will choose – enlightening. The way in which everything was explained is very simple and effective. The reader is able to imagine every scene as if it is happening right before their eyes. The way in which everything is explained is extraordinarily simple, effective and quite enjoyable at the same time. The prologue of the book describes how Hanudas comes to find all the symbols and puzzles and the rest of the book in chapters and in the form of stories of the same tribe explains the subtleties of the extraordinary way in which the universe works, who we are and how to get out of this endless cycle of birth and death in Maya. 
Those of you do not know, Maya is everything you experience. It is everything that you sense i.e., see, feel, hear, taste, touch. Maya is said to be an illusion. It is the physical world which follows the rules of space-time and the human soul which is stuck in this Maya thinking that it is the only reality experiences endless cycle of birth and death. The purpose of the human soul is to break this cycle and attain Moksha viz., unification with the absolute – the Bramh.
The book along with this also explains what the soul really is. How it goes from one body to another and what it experiences when it is out of a body. Not only this, the book also explains the type of souls there are, what are the characteristics of the soul which resides in birds, animals and humans. The struggle between the soul to be free from the shackles of birth and death and the limitations posed by the human body which understands this world to be the only reality and the Karma-Desire scale of balance is beautifully explained in one of the chapters titled ‘The Mermaid’ in the form of a story.

 

I definitely enjoyed reading this book. I’d say that it must be read at least once in the lifetime irrespective of which religion, caste or sex you belong to. Read this with an open mind because as the Vedas says, there is only one absolute truth rest everything is different realities varying from person to person.

Divine

Love is divine,

Or the divine is love.

As the only truth that exists,

As the ecstacy that persists.

Immortal, of the irremovable signs,

A story of past, yet divine.

Waiting

Upon that bench alone he sits,

along with him sits a few misfits.

Heartache and pain,

coupled with unbounded love infused in his every grain.

Twisting & turning,

they take him about,

onto a journey riddled with doubt.

He knows not where, which way to turn,

to rid himself of these incineration and burns.

Memories of love puts a salve on the burn,

yet another misfit arrives - feelings of yearn.

And so return again like fire after rain,

the same feelings of heartache and pain.

He waits for her to come back soon,

that same person before who left his home.

With whom he envisioned a lifetime together,

with whom he was closer than ever,

Yet he sits there - she does not arrive,

was she real or his imagination alive?

She who penetrated his innermost wall,

she whom he trusted like he never trusted anyone at all.

Still, he sits there, tranquil, abating,

journeying with those misfits, yearning and waiting.

Fearless

For those who are sad, in despair, giving up or just disappointed and discouraged. This will help and give you strength, you might be able to relate at least a few lines to your own life.

When crossroads came and I had to,
I always chose the hardest of them all,
they bent me in those twisted ways,
which made me stand apart and tall.

I am glad they did not kill,
and I knew my mettle through the tests,
which came and went as swift,
as the sun and moon's unrest.

I often shivered of the fear,
as crippling as it can be,
to face those demons that stood before,
but struck them nonetheless therefore.

There are far more wiser and braver still,
many people that I know,
gone through even harder times,
but vigilant, in the summers, rain or snow.

But I must not be sad or even shy,
to admit a person's worth.
For I am not less, and can't deny,
I have been bloodied too, and tasted dirt.

So even when the flames engulf,
the consequence of my sweat and blood,
I will not crumble or fall apart to lose,
but get up and rebuild, again by worn out tools.

Even if I am hung to dry,
by fools upon those steady gallows,
I will breathe again, and be heard,
by my thundering roars and bellow.

Embrace

I wrote this some time back. Though the situation is very different now, the feeling was worth writing about.

 

A warm summer's sweet delight,
closer, looking in her eyes,
sitting huddled in the sand,
beside the tides, earth's heaving sighs.

Passions high, entangled limbs,
kisses balmier than a rose's lips.
Sunset, dusk and moonlit nights,
all merry, all rejoice.

Heavenly abode, where else it is?
where lies mankind's most craving smiles?
Where but in love's most embracing arms!
Where but in those stolen glance!

Mine?

Oh! How exquisite are the flowers!
How enthralling their smell!
that wafts with the breeze.
How poised is the moon!
gleaming above, full with beauty,
hooking the heart with such an ease.

In the moonlight there stood she,
a hand outstretched, lazily, towards me,
a wounded battle-scarred young man which shook
of terrible aches of heart and body and mind,
the damsel, mending me, but slowly it took.

I was drawn towards her in that pleasant rain,
getting up, mending, slowly, inspite the pain.
I looked up towards the life I want,
embraced in the soulful dance, love entrant,
Delved so deep, no can or can't.

She took withered hands of mine in hers,
and kissed each in turn with her lips divine,
waking me up, shaking me up,
swelling with joy, welling tears of love enshrined,
her soothing whispers, kisses untimed.

I was halfway up to her embrace,
halfway through to complete this race,
a race with myself, to leave behind,
insecurities, torments, timidity and memories unkind,
And then, I belonged, from my heart and mind.

She smiled and kissed me leaning halfway down,
murmuring those words & I was a king without a crown,
I prayed and prayed and yearned the end,
the doubts in my heart and my body to mend,
I was happy, jovial - in bliss, without pretend.

I was about to reach to my fullest height,
towards that dream of divine love at first sight,
Yet her hold slackened upon my hand,
and her gaze turned cold as Hades's land.
I was drifting again to the world of pain,
with no hand to pull me out of this shame.

I woke up sweaty and with a start,
in hope to hold onto whom I gave my heart,
But where was she? Where vanished that appeal?
Where was that world, that girl and those feelings ethereal?
Was it all inside my mind? Or was it real, truthfully, love defined?
I hope to know, I hope to find,
through all the tribulations and promises kind,
were they false, a figment of mind or was she mine!

Dauntless

When you are happy to sit through,
alone among lots of friends, fake.
And you don't feel the need,
to depend for depending's sake.

When all your expectations are turned to dust,
yet to feel you incurred no loss.
It takes no toll to sit with comfort,
to ponder upon expectation's cause.

When you are met with disdainful looks,
From all around by hostile eyes.
And you agree to let it be,
notice how blissfully time flies.

When you are left to fend for yourself,
in every trouble that comes your way.
Make your efforts just the double,
to learn your worth, to be unafraid.

And when the time comes at the last,
when other's crumble beneath the weight.
You remain elate and sturdy, unbowed,
and in the smouldering eyes of trouble,
you will sit up, unflinching and look straight.

Beside the Styx

Hey! Hello everyone. I wrote this piece a while back. Upon reading you may find it to be a blend of greek and christian mythology. It just sort of popped into my mind, and believe you me, I made the story as the poem progressed. Enjoy reading! :)

I saw it in her eyes again,
The same forgotten sighs in vain.
For she a goddess and I so low,
With a broken crown on an iron brow.

Love and being her man I beseeched,
From the calmly flowing styx,
And I found there a paler crowd,
With grin and cruel scorns commix.

I did pray singing a doleful song,
A melody with grief I tried,
To make her listen with a mourn,
With a heave and tear run in my eyes.

But she was up and in those glades,
At the side of a knight with a sword,
A sword tainted with the blood,
Of that unsaid love who lived unguard.

I found but a lowly croak,
Emanating from the ungraceful self,
Too filled with sadness upon that reef,
Too choked with madness and the grief.

Forgetting from which way I came,
I ventured to the black castle grand,
Made with flesh and the bones,
The underworld’s lord standing with open hands.

“O! How came you upon this dwelling?”
"And What made you venture forth?”
Gliding and with a smile he asked,
Watching this mortal frame unmasked.

“I am a jilted mortal as such,
Who fell in love with a goddess, shame,
For who am I to be of worth,
Of her love, this unworthy name”

“Cry not hear and don’t be ‘fraid” said he
“For as I come near to thee,
And tell you about your way to Elysium,
For you are true in your pursuit indeed”

“It’s a long way up and without a horror,
And you can go for you can,
For you did love and here it led,
And you followed what the lord hath said”

I bent my knee and folded my hands,
Devoted for come what may,
I know now what is so much near,
A thin veil between love and death till this day.

To Bloom

In the darkness, in the night,
A flower of feeble might.
Stands alone upon a twig,
Beneath the moon pearly bright.

Yearning for a few drops of rain,
To find a flower to stand beside,
And stand beside, together
Extinguishing both their pain.

In the drier days and lonesome nights,
when the flower was about to die,
A smaller shoot, feebler still,
Showed up upon the lonesome twig.

It sprouts up, beside the flower glum,
And begins to bud shortly then,
Intertwining under the scorching sun,
Extraordinarily 'cuter', and the music begun.

It bought the flower back to life,
A life, in all the withering seasons,
A life which was about to die,
And would have dried up and forgotten,
Forgotten in the times nigh'.

Both brought the other back from doom,
And henceforth expelled all the gloom,
As a new life came upon that tree
With the flowers's stupendous bloom.

The truth of Life

Beyond this day, if we shall find,

a loss of will to yearly stroll,

and seek the meek embrace,

of beloved sleep and swelling toll.

 

It means we will soon in time,

see life's greatest truth.

An old friend will come and greet,

in the morning chirps or night owl's hoot.

 

He, the death, is most trustworthy of our ends,

rest were just mirthless games,

of old friends or foes, doubtful,

devious, with varied masks they played.

 

He stands behind every door,

to shake your hand one day

just nod and smile, same jovial mood,

when maybe few times in your life

you pass those menacing corridors.

 

Do not fear but be delighted,

it is the fate of every being.

Like the butterfly from its cocoon,

it is a new, another journey yet to be seen.

 

Live the life free of hate,

and grasp his hand with a merry look.

Pass free of any bounding yearning,

as there is no question in the end

of what you made and what you took.

 

It is the divine truth of life,

ugly sometimes it may seem.

But death is the ultimate absolute,

of every mortal, every life, resolute.

 

He is the constant companion of every being,

Oblivious to their actions in life.

Standing between heaven and earthen layer,

as an unalterable truth,

with every soul and every prayer.