Blissful Life

Category: thoughts

  • Rekindling Ambitions

    On the eve of independence day in 2013, I wrote this post
    which was about keeping ourselves safe from getting involved
    in situations where doing good might be bad. I grew more and more
    pessimistic about life and people around me since then. Going through
    the comments section of any news item would put me in a state of teeth
    clenching aversion towards fellow country men.

    I was not like this. I was patriotic. I called myself ASD of India. I believed in people like Dr APJ Abdul Kalam when they said that it’s possible to do anything if we have a desire strong enough. Swami Vivekananda’s words “Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached!” would make me determined to succeed.

    My schools were the best. They never taught me the meaning of impossible. Everything seemed possible. Everything seemed interesting. Everyone was involved with the same spirit.

    But college was something entirely different. Suddenly, I was exposed to the bad, and sad sides of humanity. Not just in the immediate surrounding. Newspapers suddenly became sources of bad news. In fact, I quit reading newspapers entirely. They were becoming too negative for me. Or was it that I was too weak to face the reality? Maybe. But I could imagine alternate realities (or fantasies) in which people are far less corrupt and far more content. I could imagine spirited colleagues. I could imagine living in a better society.

    For some reason, I assumed that those were just fantasies. I grew too pessimistic. I assumed that honesty will never win and that as time goes on, things will get only worse. I figured that we were doomed. I knew that there was no future for humanity.

    This negativity has contributed more than a little to my decision not to run behind a post graduate seat. I had already grown sick of the education system much before I grew sick of the entire system. I was not going to spend any more time in that toxic environment that’s called “college”. Any college.

    I was clueless on what to do when I joined Vivekananda Memorial Hospital. It took me more than a month, but now I’m finally beginning to understand.

    Yesterday, there was an orientation session here. VMH is run by Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement. The CEO of SVYM, Dr MA Balasubramanya gave a speech in the orientation session. He ran through the history of the organization. The values of SVYM is “Satya, Ahimsa, Seva, and Tyaga”. SVYM does an incredible amount of good work in Karnataka. And it started from two batches of students of MMC. It has taken 32 years for this organization to become what it is right now. And it hasn’t paid a single rupee in bribe to reach where it is.

    The most important thing that he spoke yesterday and that hit me hard was that it was indeed possible for honest people to survive. That it was indeed possible to do good things. That good people do, in fact, exist.

    I have a theory of love. When you fall in love with a person the first time, there is a component of infatuation. Once you grow beyond that, you start to see imperfections in your partner and stop loving them as much. But there is a certain moment in the relationship where you fall in love with the same person again. The difference is that this time, you know all the positives and negatives of your partner and you are loving the whole person. This newfound love is unbreakable. Because you have accepted all the bads of your partner, there is nothing new that can change your love.

    I think I should now apply the same theory to ambitions. Initially we go through the rosy feeling of the entire world being full of possibilities and unlimited potentials. Then there is a rough patch in which you grow tired and weary, and forced to give up. It was only when I had given up and threw my hands in despair that I got help.

    If I had ever been able to believe in mythical spirituality, I’d have called it Swami Vivekananda’s infinite power. Otherwise, what can explain the coincidence of my first love of the world be propelled by Swami Vivekananda’s books and now, my rekindled love of the world be propelled by an organization that lives by his name and values?

    Positive thoughts come to you when you are surrounded by positive people. Fortunately, I’ve come to such a place. Now is the time to ride the wave. Expect more.

  • A Call For Donation

    Read The Hindu : States / Tamil Nadu : Woman gifts daughter sight on Women’s Day

    It’s so very easy to make use of your body after your death. And it may be via donation that you did the greatest deed of kindness in your whole ‘life’.

    You can call 1919 (toll free, India) to reach the nearest eye bank, and ask them to pick the cornea of your nearest relative (or if you’re the dead, make arrangements that your dearest will call the eye bank). Or if 1919 doesn’t work checkout this list of eye banks in India. (I was surprised that there was an eye bank even at Dhanalakshmi hospital, Kannur)

    Here’s an FAQ about Eye Donation

    If you want to step it up, and make a pledge, here’s an Eye Pledge Form (there’s also an eye bank locator under it) where you can pledge your eyes and be a sight ambassador (like I just did)

    There’s another way you can make use of your carcass. Body Donation. This may be a bit more tough to set up. Because you have to prepare an affidavit before your death and submit it to the nearest medical college. (But burning or burying your body also takes a lot of effort). And do tell this to your grandparents (:P There’s no point in running away from the obvious)

    PS: A related thought. If they make assisted suicide legal, will they also allow live people who want to die let science make maximum use of their live body by allowing fatal experiments (like observing the regeneration of liver, removing parts of brain, etc) take place? I would die to do that.

  • Talking About Sex

    I was first taught about sex neither by my parents nor by my teachers.
    The first time I really learned how babies are made was when I saw a porn movie when I was 14. Yeah, even before the advent of Internet.

    And till today my parents haven’t talked to me directly about sex either. (Though my dad has mentioned several times that it can be an addiction) And mind you, next year I’m 18.

    I have had the chance to learn in two schools. But still, none of the 50 or more teachers who’ve taught me have ever talked about sex. Not even my biology teacher.
    Of course the lesson “Reproduction in Human Beings” was much anticipated. But it went away like over-hyped bollywood movies do, without an active discussion. (There were muffled laughs from the corners to welcome a hypocritical lecture)

    And even my beloved English teachers who talk about everything on this earth have invariably failed me. Somehow I gathered the courage to tell my teacher that we watched porn (in a relevant context) but she just responded “that’s bad” in a surprised manner and walked away. She talked about drugs the next minute. But she wouldn’t talk about this drug. I mean, if she had a point, she’d rather make it clear.

    By that afternoon the news spread and I was receiving mixed responses from my schoolmates – applauses and questioning looks. As if I had done something. Heroic or great. Obscene or indecent.
    Whereas I was standing amongst them, confused. Wondering as to what was so special about the topic I put in. Nobody asked me anything when I told my English teacher about the way I play football, or the way I love my father.

    What are these adults shying away from?
    Parents and teachers.

    Should generation gap be a problem?
    Well, it is not. Because though friends talk a bit about sex, they don’t actually ‘openly’ talk.
    The little that friends know about each others’ problems is the little that comes after multi-filtering through cultural sieves.
    SEX???!!! Taboo.

    You don’t have to worry about me. You don’t have to worry about those teens who luckily fall into good company. But there are others who aren’t so lucky. They do not get a chance to know anything until they are in a situation where knowing does not matter.

    It so happens in the seemingly open but stringently closed society that we are born into.

    Maybe you are thinking that your not talking about it makes us less curious.
    You are of course wrong.
    Not knowing only adds to the curiosity.
    And curiosity kills the cat.

    Talking about sex only reduces the risks.
    It is not talking that multiplies the risk.

    But there is no talking. There is only flinching.
    The 3 letter word is never used. (Though the 4 letter word is always used)

    Adolescence Education Programs were promised.
    Well, we never thought any would ever be delivered.
    For, who’s to deliver it other than you?

    Maybe you could answer. What is so special about sex that makes it a topic worth not discussing?

    If you’re gonna tell me that our culture prohibits us from talking about sex, tell that to the 1 million HIV/AIDS patients in the age group 15-29 from India. And mind you, that data is three years old.

    And till you find me a solid reason not to talk about sex, I will keep on using the word loudly and in public.

    –
    A virgin.

  • The Meaning of Patriotism in the Global Scenario

    You stand up for the National Anthem of your nation, and then your hairs stand up. This is patriotism.
    But what does being patriotic mean after globalization?
    You are politically correct. Because after your independence (which almost every country has) the people who struggled for your national entity decided upon an agreement that you would vote regularly and decide a leader to rule the nation and so on…
    So, during elections, you are legally confirming to be a member of an organization that spans across your country.

    Just like imperialism died with revolutions, nationalism must die with globalization.

    You are no longer talking only with people whom you can see. You are no longer reading words that were written by your country-mates. You are no longer restricted to your nation.
    So why should your love be?

    Science is global.
    So is economics.
    Let alone climate change.
    Energy crisis?
    Terrorism.
    Market. Trade. Business.
    Sports, literature, art.

    If nations were formed to eliminate a common threat and preserve a shared culture, then why should nations stand alone? Because almost every threat that we face today is global. And almost everything that we do today is global.

    Our curling up into fragments of earth only shows how small we are.
    Nationalism is just the same as racism. And wars are nothing but fascism.

    This neither justifies brain drain nor suggests you to hate your nation. Your parents who cared for you all through your childhood deserves your care when you can stand alone. And if you do not love your nation you are doing the same as throwing your parents into hopelessness.
    You must retain the love for your nation. You must stand up for your own national flag, but also for others’.

    If our true love is for the mankind, then it is time that we stop hating people on the basis of nationality.

    We must be patriotic, but our nation must be Planet Earth.

  • Couldn’t mind be naturally ‘supernatural’?

    I just got a hypothesis to prove that supernatural may be natural. Well I actually got that idea when I was trying to make my first post at Brights India (a group of Brights in India, Brights are the people who like the naturalistic way of the world), but there’s no way I can adapt that in another way to put in here. So I’m just copy pasting the whole thing. Keep in mind that I wrote this not to you, still I want to say this to you too.

    Let me first excuse myself, this is my first post here, I might be sounding odd.

    But couldn’t mind have powers that some of us are just being unable to use?

    Let me clarify myself.
    Our brain can convert sensory inputs from eye, ear, nose, skin, tongue (that’s where modern science is now) that is visible spectum, audible frequency, smell, temperature roughness, taste

    Now think of sharks which can sense electromagnetic field.

    To continue what I’m going to say I need to make an assumption –
    “that there could be, like the electromagnetic waves, another kind of waves or radiation or energy, which the modern science is yet to experimentally confront.”
    (and with that i must add “did anyone know about electricity before faraday (or is it oersted?) discovered it?”)

    and there’s one thing to note that if there’s such a thing it’s properties could be vastly different from any other things we have observed. It may not be like light. it may not be like particles or waves. and of course i can not tell what it will be like.

    [the whole point of this post is that assumption. if that is wrong i’m dead]

    If you agree with that let us call those rays asd rays (that’s the abbreviation of my full name – so that if in case someone finds it i can tell that i had predicted it and name it under my name, got the point? :D)

    now i hope i am right when i say that “evolution does not depend on whether we understand it or not”
    (that is to say like we have the electron behaving like a wave when we observe it and like a particle when we do not in Young’s double slit experiment)
    So I believe that
    “even if we don’t know that asd rays exist, our DNAs know it” (my goodness, that is an interesting point, could our body be knowing what our mind doesn’t? could we be knowing more than what we know?)

    And so let us assume our body has evolved mechanism to receive asd rays (like we do with light rays)

    And if we can receive asd rays we may be able to send asd rays too.. may be (like we can create sound, and hear sound)

    And may be there is some organ in our yet-to-be-studied-fully brain which CAN actually send and receive asd rays.

    now, may be the composition of asd rays is such that it doesn’t require a medium to pass through.
    and may be it could interact with things (sound can make things vibrate, light can strike electrons off)
    ————————

    OK. that is all the assumptions we have to make.

    Now my intentions are clear.

    Couldn’t there be such a mechanism in our brain or mind or body? (which can make things like telepathy, spoon bending, apple from thin air, etc. possible)
    ————————

    Reply from akshay s dinesh to asd of india

    But if there’s such an organ, our body would let our mind know it. For, do we have to learn that we can use the eye to see, ear to hear, etc. Should there be such an organ we must be knowing about it.

    reply from asd to akshay

    but do we come to realize that we have a liver, or a spleen by ourselves? (I never knew there existed an organ called spleen until I watched a mother killing her step daughter hitting on the spleen with a hammer in reality tv)
    i mean may be this is an involuntary organ.
    (like our heart rate gets automatically lowered when we’re calm and vice versa)

    ————————————

    Well I know all these are assumptions. But this is my hypothesis to make many things that we term supernatural as natural.. So that there wouldn’t be any fight at all (i don’t like fights)
    and therefore i wish to invite you to contribute to this idea too. That is to say instead of asking me questions. Help me make this idea a perfect hypothesis waiting to be proved.

    Well, that’s it. I know this is crazy. Still.
    This is the link to the actual thread.

  • Achieving God

    The success of experiencing what I did and am trying to share with you through this post will depend on how detached you are from your mind. (In doubt? Read the post The Secret to (Infinite) Happiness)
    Earlier I told you about the happiness you get out of the realisation that you are neither your body, nor your mind, and that how your body or mind feels is not how you feel. There we talked about detaching your mind from yourself, and not letting your mind influence you.
    But today we are advancing to the next step. Controlling your mind

    We often find ourselves indulging in pleasures (what saintly people call worldly pleasures). And most often we find that something in us does not want us to do that. Let it be watching television on the day before your exams, or having a deadline closing in and still finding time for everything else but the project, or knowing that you have to exercise for a healthy life, but still in the bed every morning; the times when you say “I couldn’t resist”

    What was it that you couldn’t resist on those occasions? The desire in your mind.

    Until you learn how to control your mind, true happiness can never be achieved.

    And this ability, the ability to control your mind is very difficult to acquire, unless you are willing to train it for hours and hours. (In saintly terms, prayer or meditation)

    But I just found a short-cut.

    Let’s start it straight away. (Works well if there is anything you have been postponing)
    Find a disgusting task, completing assignments, learning, reading, exercising (these will turn to be fun later, as I will show you).
    Try to do it now.
    Your mind is telling you not to do it.
    Try to do it. Mind fighting. You try. Mind. You. Mind. >><< egh… dishyum… dishyum… ><
    Don’t let mind take over you. Control your mind. Teach it that you are the master and it your slave.
    Make it do what you want.
    Now, the first task is the only difficult task. If you can do this by brute force over your mind, you are successful. Everything else is easier.

    The moment you finish the first task something in you starts working. You feel a lot satisfied, confident,…
    These are the symptoms that mind has accepted you as its master.

    If nothing happened it is because you did the task through compromise with your mind. You told your mind to remain silent for a few minutes, while you finish the task. Mind will step aside, and, after you finish the task, take over again. That is not the way. Tell the mind first hand that you decide what to do, and that mind can only accept what you decide. Then do the task. And even after the task, you will remain the master.

    Now, the satisfaction, the pleasure you just had, remember it. Just remember how happy you feel when you are in control of yourself (and not your mind). Don’t forget that ever.

    (If you can, read the rest of this post only later. Though nothing is going to happen even if you read it now, it helps you better to take the control of your mind, if you read it later.)
    _______________________________________________________

    If you are like me, your mind will regain its authority within 2 hours of completing the first task.
    It will hold a diplomatic conversation with you. Mind: “Hey! I accept defeat, you are my master. Will you please let me enjoy for an hour?” It will humbly request you. And you will let it. But the moment you do that mind will be back in power. So, what to do now?

    Actually you shouldn’t have allowed the mind even a moment. The more freedom you give your mind, the more it will take control of you. But still, you got trapped. Now how do you bounce back? Simple. Remember the pleasure you had when you had mind under your control? Yes, that pleasure of satisfaction and the feel of control (far better than even OP :D). Remember it. Savour its sweetness. So you have two pleasures waiting for you, one silly, fragile pleasure and the other everlasting, supreme pleasure.

    Remember it and fight your mind. Lo! Your control is back with you. And don’t lose it to mind ever again.

    Just go in full control of your mind for a day or two.
    And when you are pretty sure that you have your mind under your control, let it have some fun, still under your control. Some controlled entertainment. For an hour or so. And every otherwise gruelling thing you do, command the mind to treat that it is fun.

    The mind is a great servant but a horrible master

    And when letting your mind have fun be cautious. Our mind is so tricky that sometimes it will make us think that we are in control while actually it is in control. This can be called pseudo control. But you can easily identify whether you are having pseudo control or actual control. Just command your mind to do something, if it obeys you are in control, and if it doesn’t you’ll have to start taming it again.

    So, once you have tamed your mind, like a good pet dog, it will obey whatever you say. And may be if our mind does have some secret potentials like the saints say, then some day we will be able to bend spoons.

    And when you are in complete control of your mind, then you are in control, you are God, the Almighty.
    Enjoy the bliss.

  • Pale Blue Dot

    Can you see a tiny little dot in the above picture. That is our good old earth. Just that it was photographed 3.7 billion miles away from the home of anyone reading this. And the famous Carl Sagan gave the following words relating to that little speck:

    “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
    The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
    Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
    The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

    It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

    There’s nothing more I can add to what Sagan said. Just see that picture once again and take a few breaths.

  • My Dream Hospital cum Mini City – “Live Longer” or “Freedom Centre”

    This is another of the things I am going to do in the future.
    Of course I will become a doctor. Then, I will start a hospital. This hospital will not be like ordinary hospitals. Ordinary hospitals are designed in such a way as to just get the patient out of ailment. But my “Freedom Center” will not just do that. We will make sure that the patient has a totally new lifestyle by the time he leaves “Freedom Center”. Such that he will never have to visit here again.
    In the “Live Longer” section, we will also have a gym, ( a swimming pool, ) a library, and a forum for people and especially youngsters to think and talk about what they like and need.
    We will have music running continuously in the background everywhere inside the Freedom Center.

    Yeah, and people will love to be inside the Mini City. And people will live longer. And they will get freedom from the sorrows of life.

  • Have we Turned Cultureless or Cultured

    Indians do have lost their ancient culture. That is beyond doubt.
    But the question is, was that loss a loss at all?

    There are two options.
    A) Yes, our ancient culture was better
    B) No, the new culture is better
    Of course, answering this question requires thoughts and experiments on large scale.

    But, let us try to agree on at least one thing:
    Our ancient culture was practical (at that time when an average Indian never went outside the circle of radius 50 km and center their home).
    But for us to be compatible with the latest innovations in any field (even in spirituality), we must be able to change. Yes, it is survival of the fittest, and if we are not ready to change, we will have to keep our mouth shut, and that’s it.
    So, nowadays the question has changed – do you want to be recognized, or do you want the older culture.
    And the choice is a tough one to make, especially if you consider both of them as essential. (Can we select multiple options)
    So, my answer is C) None of the above (
    Do your best in trying to have the sweet essence of any culture inculcated in the personality that belongs to you.
    )

    And a nice practical tip: Reflect the culture of those around you

  • What Kerala and Keralites Can and Must Learn From Delhi City

    I’ve recently been to Delhi. Actually it’s been my first time visit. (Though, I dream of making it many more times)

    And though the heat there took the toll out of me, a poor Keralite, I still love Delhi and wish to be back there.

    There are two important things that we Keralites must learn from such big cities.

    First is transport. One thing that really mesmerized me into loving Delhi is the metro railway. It is comfortable, fast, affordable, time-savvy and reduces congestion in the roads. You do know that it is almost impossible to get from the North to the South of Cochin at 8 in any weekday morning. Metro railway need not be in metro cities.
    For roads, one thing that is absent in Delhi roads is gutters. There has been no compromise made with the health of roads, and that gives you a huge relief. At least you can mind other business while driving without hitting anything trying to avoid a hole in front.

    And the second, the lifestyle.
    We Keralites have a habit of thinking about others. How they look. How they see us. How nasty they are. How rude. How disgusting others can be. How helping others can be harmful. How a “sorry” can lower our respect. How a “good morning” makes us inferior.
    How rubbish!
    In the city, people don’t care about others. Everyone lives in a world of thier own, in which they need care about matters they are concerned with, and matters that need their attention. Can’t we just try to concentrate on ourselves?
    Not that we should replace our styles with their, but shouldn’t we adapt and perfect ourselves.

    And of course, Delhi is the capital of India