I want to share with you the fascinating story of Bikram Choudhary,founder of Bikram Yoga.This story has appeared in the Nov issue of the Society magazine.The website is www.magnammags.com.
He learnt his yoga from Bishnu Ghosh, the brother of Paramhansa Yoganand of The Autobiography of a Yogi fame.He has cured celebrities like the Prime Minister and the Emperor of Japan and the President OF THE U.S.of the most incurable diseases.He's probably the only person to have got the Z2 status as a U.S immigrant where he has lived for the last 40 years. Bikram Yoga has 50 million adherents worldwide. It is a set of 26 asanas done in temp of 40 degrees celcius.
The power of yoga and meditation is immense. It's time we took charge of our lives and absorb the many bounties of nature. And the place to start is our own bodies,the epic of creation.
The problems of the world are, infact, opportunities.And the point to start is right from our own selves.Otherwise we become part of the problem.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
the puny breath hides an eternity
People ask me what my career is. I say it is to awakenSun, November
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shantum Seth is a Zen Buddhist teacher
What does spirituality mean to you?
I do not use that word very much. But it would mean awareness, being present, being mindful about what is going on within myself and around.
How do you manage to be so?
I use my breathe as my anchor. My body is here in any case. So my mind is what I have to train, as it constantly journeys into the past or future. I try to always stay aware of my breath, be in the present, without too much preconception. When meeting someone for instance, I may feel an instant like or dislike and become aware of it --- does this person remind me of my mother? Or of someone who has hurt me deeply?
So spirituality is about this constant process of getting in touch with the inner world. The outer is the realm of the social. But it is not disconnected from spirituality either. They are both intertwined. My actions, my speech, my thoughts are all in the realm of spirituality as long as there is awareness and mindfulness.
Spirituality is basically just a way of being. It is not something you pick up for half an hour, chanting or sitting on a pillow and then leave for the rest of the day. When I drive I want to be aware, when I talk on the phone or brush my teeth I want to be aware. At no point in time would I not want to be spiritual.
What does this constant awareness bring you?
One, instead of being a reactive person with actions determined by impulsive emotions, I am responsive from a more centered place, truer to myself.
Second, it allows me to touch what is wholesome, what makes me happy. Instead of responding in a way that may be destructive, I may come up with a wholesome and helpful response.
And your answer can therefore be truer to who you really are?
Yes, even though who I am is not a static thing. At every moment it changes.
But let’s say I see a beggar. I just stop and try to see him as my teacher. What is he bringing up in me --- compassion, anger, disgust, empathy, guilt? If it happens to evoke compassion, I try to act out of it with some wisdom. Which does not mean giving money as it perpetuates a system into which everyone suffers. But it’s an energy building up in me. And I may try to help some non-profit doing some good work for instance, or talk to a group of friends. I am a great believer in the collective mind.
What do you mean by collective mind?
We are by nature interdependent. If I am unhappy and moody at home, other family members will feel it and be affected by it. Same with a larger group like a company or society. When you eat mindfully, others begin doing so as well --- if you look at the food attentively, if you are grateful for what you are eating, then you find that your children and friends start imbibing that. So collective mind is not an idea, it is a way of being.
For instance, I organize those pilgrimages to Buddhist places around India, which is my livelihood. Every evening we sit down and discuss what struck us during the day. If it is an issue like the beggar, all of us will share our view. And out of that collective view emerges a collective wisdom and some action. It is a bit like the Native American council system. Each one shares and nobody interrupts. Knowing how to listen to others is fundamental.
Part of my practice also involves being attentive to the interconnectedness of all things. For instance, let’s take the element “air”. You and I are breathing the same air. So where is the separation? At the mind level, it is the same. Thoughts circulate and connect us.
Yet I have to emphasize that it all is about a practice --- like a tennis player who has to exercise every day to become a great player, I constantly try to practice and over time it simply becomes part of me, it becomes me.
Why did you choose this particular practice?
It has been a long journey.
I was in the corporate sector in England, working for Clarks, a shoemaking company. I was earning more than my parents combined, and had a fancy house. I would come to India and purchase shoes from extremely skilled artisans. A hotel night of mine was more expensive than a weekly salary of theirs. So I moved out of my hotel and went to stay with them in the slums of Agra. I learnt a lot there and upon my return to England, I wrote a letter to my managing director arguing that we should put people before profits. He answered that the name of the game in capitalism is to put profits before people. I was a very angry young man and decided it was not the game I wanted to play. So I left and went back to university.
I then got into politics and was elected as a Green. I was an activist involved in much street action. I even went to jail as a consciousness objector.
But at some point I understood I was fighting for peace but had no peace myself. I had become part of the problem. This realization made me want to be peaceful. Coming from India, I knew that spirituality could help for that. So I went to many teachers in India but couldn’t find anyone suiting me. There always was too much God, or too much Guru.
What do you mean by “too much Guru”?
You put everything in the hands of the guru, you subcontract your inner guru to the outer guru. And I had been brought up in a spirit of free inquiry, self-reliance. It was not about everything being preordained etc. The guru trip was becoming too much about building the guru, letting go of your own power.
Then I became the manager of a performing troop, which was touring America. And I realized that the best teachers in the world had come to the West coast of America.
So I went up and down the West Coast for fourteen months. I practiced everything I could find with Sufis, Christians, Native Americans, Hindus. Finally, I met Buddhist teachers and felt it suited me best, because of the free inquiry, the reflective element, the self reliance, the idea that it’s about the suffering in this world and not some other world, the non necessity of a belief in God. It is about how you handle yourself in the here and now, how you deal with suffering here and now.
In particular, I met a teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, who reminded me of Gandhi --- which meant a lot as I had done my thesis on him --- because of his engaged Buddhism. Being spiritual for him is not only about becoming a hermit in a cave but also about being engaged in society.
Most importantly, he allowed me to touch peace. I would do walking meditation and then and there, touched the essence of peace. Not as a notion I had been fighting for. But the actual realization of it.
Once you taste it, you know it is possible. This was in 1987 and I began to practice that way. Since then, I have become used to constantly asking myself: “is this a happy moment? Is this a peaceful moment?”
The practice of present moment awareness as explained by Zen is realization itself. There is no separation between means and end. This moment makes the next moment. There is no point in thinking about the future, you can only have an idea about it. And the past is gone.
And of course I strive to apply the practice to all realms of life --- how to create harmony in my family, in the workplace and so on.
You also became a teacher yourself?
Yes, I was ordained as a Zen teacher in 2000. At some point, when your teacher feels you are ready, there is a transmission of the lamp. So I am the 43rd generation of a particular lineage of Zen.
I am particularly interested in bringing this practice to schools, and sharing it through Sanghas, or group meetings.
I also lead retreats to Buddhist sites, or places like Agra. Those are meant to be transformative journeys. Of course I share all the details about history, craft, architecture. But I also always make sure they are aware of the eleven directions: north, west, east, south, northwest, northeast etc. that’s eight, above and within that’s ten, and the eleventh direction is within. And say it is in Agra. There I will also talk about love, how we can develop it in ourselves, with our family, our friends and so on. It is about awakening of consciousness. The real journey only starts once the person is back home. There, they hopefully look at their reality in a different way – what makes them happy, what gives them peace and so on.
Teaching children is so important. I never learnt as a child how to do emotional regulation or inner resilience. I had to go through a lot of difficulties, a lot of angst to find it out.
There are some basics on how to manage our anger for instance. Or how to pay attention in class, how to develop an attentive mind, concentration, memory, emotional awareness and so on.
So I teach children, and I teach teachers, so it can have some continuity.
I also like to share practical things, relevant to people’s lives. For instance, phone meditation: any time you are about to call someone, stop, breathe and smile.
Calling someone is intruding in their reality. So I first breathe asking myself if I really need to intrude. Second, as words can create so much suffering, I ask that my words be as beautiful as gemstones. I pay attention to the energy of my speech, I try to be aware and mindful when speaking. It is communication at a different level, at an attentive level, knowing I can affect the other. And in the end it all boils down to try and make the world a better place, while keeping myself in a good place.
As an activist I used to try and change the world. Now I know I also have to look after myself. If a tree is ill in the garden, you don’t only go to it and try to heal it. You also look at the flowers, the birds, the other trees. Then you are strong enough to heal that tree.
The anger you used to have is gone?
It’s not gone but I can handle it. My jealousy is not less though.
Meaning?
When people are close to you and somebody else is coming into that space, a strong feeling of jealousy and anger arises.
I then use the same technique with all those destructive emotions. I breathe. If I am not strong enough, I try to change the location, to go out. I recognize the anger rising in me. And I embrace it. I acknowledge that it is me!
It is like a child crying. You do not know why he is crying. You pick him up and he stops crying. You don’t know if he is hungry, or his diaper needs to be changed or something else. You gradually discoverit. The same goes with anger. You embrace it, look at it, and gradually find its root causes. Then you can decide if it’s worth keeping it.
Often you actually find a pattern in the various occurrences of anger. And once you see it, anger is killed off, like by a laser. Recognizing it makes it lose its steam and then it disappears. That’s the magic of the practice.
It is basic psychology, basic Buddhist psychology. The Buddha was really a doctor of the mind. All he was saying is that the mind creates reality. Happiness is not created outside but comes from within. Can you be a happy person? Do you need another person to be loved? You can give that love to yourself, instead of developing that dependency.
That’s the crux of spirituality. The dance of living this life, and the world. It’s a real gift to be alive. So I always breathe in and I know I am alive, I breathe out and I smile to life. It doesn’t need to be a big smile on my face but a pleasant warm inner feeling.
Everything is a miracle. As one of the great Zen masters said in the 9th century, the real miracle is not to walk on water but to walk on earth. That we are sitting here talking is a miracle. If I look at your background, where you came from, your ancestry etc. and mine, this moment, our paths crossing is really a miracle. What were the conditions that allowed for it to happen?
All of this requires a moment-to-moment awareness. Otherwise we lose the magic of the moment, as if it had never been there.
And we don’t know, we may get out of this house and be knocked down by a car. But if in THIS precise moment we can really feel that sense of connectedness and precious magic, then we are living in a different space.
Everyone can do it. There is no great science, or great spiritual mumbo jumbo. It is pretty simple.
And then it’s about practice.
Yes, and about the process. People ask what is my career. And I say --- it is to awake.
Of course other things go on, family and children come, suffering and problems will arise, people dying and getting married, friendships coming and going. Everyone is a teacher.
Talking about career, you went from shoemaking to politics to drama to UNESCO to teaching…
Yes, it’s all about change. It’s not because you are a shoemaker that you have to stay a shoemaker.
Is it at all predestined and predetermined?
No, it isn’t. There definitely are many things outside of our control, outside of our conceptual mind. I call it interconnectedness. But there also is a degree of free will. When a feeling arises, I can choose how I respond to it.
Even at times of major challenges, you manage to keep that awareness?
I try but don’t always manage. It’s a path you know. But I am much better than before, I can see there is a shift.
I see it as a store of consciousness with various seeds --- seeds of anger, jealousy, awareness, love and so on. Which ones do I choose to water?
The seed I want to water most is mindfulness. Even more than love, because I must be aware of love when it is there. Seeds of anger or jealousy exist and I do not repress them, I embrace them yet try not to create conditions that will feed them.
When I was watching 26/11 for instance I was really angry. So I went out for a walk and began looking at the flowers, trees and birds, I started reflecting on that person, Kasab. If I had been brought up like him, in the same place, with the same hardship, indoctrination and incentives, I would most likely have been like him. What is different in me? So who am I to condemn? My anger thus became compassion. And out of that one can act more wisely. How do we help the situation so we don’t get another Kasab?
If you could ask God one question, what would it be?
God who?
If there were such a thing as reincarnation, what would you choose?
I am already choosing. Because I am reborn every moment. From moment to moment, I am just being. It just happens. And what happens is determined by my own choice as well as many other causes and conditions I do not control.
What is your idea of happiness?
I would reverse the question --- happiness happens here and now, but can I be aware of it? Happiness is a matter of being aware of it. It has to be a realization. It is not an idea. The idea of happiness, the idea of my lifespan, the idea of a person, the idea of death are actually the key to our suffering. Because it all is about realization in the moment, not about an abstract idea.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shantum Seth is a Zen Buddhist teacher
What does spirituality mean to you?
I do not use that word very much. But it would mean awareness, being present, being mindful about what is going on within myself and around.
How do you manage to be so?
I use my breathe as my anchor. My body is here in any case. So my mind is what I have to train, as it constantly journeys into the past or future. I try to always stay aware of my breath, be in the present, without too much preconception. When meeting someone for instance, I may feel an instant like or dislike and become aware of it --- does this person remind me of my mother? Or of someone who has hurt me deeply?
So spirituality is about this constant process of getting in touch with the inner world. The outer is the realm of the social. But it is not disconnected from spirituality either. They are both intertwined. My actions, my speech, my thoughts are all in the realm of spirituality as long as there is awareness and mindfulness.
Spirituality is basically just a way of being. It is not something you pick up for half an hour, chanting or sitting on a pillow and then leave for the rest of the day. When I drive I want to be aware, when I talk on the phone or brush my teeth I want to be aware. At no point in time would I not want to be spiritual.
What does this constant awareness bring you?
One, instead of being a reactive person with actions determined by impulsive emotions, I am responsive from a more centered place, truer to myself.
Second, it allows me to touch what is wholesome, what makes me happy. Instead of responding in a way that may be destructive, I may come up with a wholesome and helpful response.
And your answer can therefore be truer to who you really are?
Yes, even though who I am is not a static thing. At every moment it changes.
But let’s say I see a beggar. I just stop and try to see him as my teacher. What is he bringing up in me --- compassion, anger, disgust, empathy, guilt? If it happens to evoke compassion, I try to act out of it with some wisdom. Which does not mean giving money as it perpetuates a system into which everyone suffers. But it’s an energy building up in me. And I may try to help some non-profit doing some good work for instance, or talk to a group of friends. I am a great believer in the collective mind.
What do you mean by collective mind?
We are by nature interdependent. If I am unhappy and moody at home, other family members will feel it and be affected by it. Same with a larger group like a company or society. When you eat mindfully, others begin doing so as well --- if you look at the food attentively, if you are grateful for what you are eating, then you find that your children and friends start imbibing that. So collective mind is not an idea, it is a way of being.
For instance, I organize those pilgrimages to Buddhist places around India, which is my livelihood. Every evening we sit down and discuss what struck us during the day. If it is an issue like the beggar, all of us will share our view. And out of that collective view emerges a collective wisdom and some action. It is a bit like the Native American council system. Each one shares and nobody interrupts. Knowing how to listen to others is fundamental.
Part of my practice also involves being attentive to the interconnectedness of all things. For instance, let’s take the element “air”. You and I are breathing the same air. So where is the separation? At the mind level, it is the same. Thoughts circulate and connect us.
Yet I have to emphasize that it all is about a practice --- like a tennis player who has to exercise every day to become a great player, I constantly try to practice and over time it simply becomes part of me, it becomes me.
Why did you choose this particular practice?
It has been a long journey.
I was in the corporate sector in England, working for Clarks, a shoemaking company. I was earning more than my parents combined, and had a fancy house. I would come to India and purchase shoes from extremely skilled artisans. A hotel night of mine was more expensive than a weekly salary of theirs. So I moved out of my hotel and went to stay with them in the slums of Agra. I learnt a lot there and upon my return to England, I wrote a letter to my managing director arguing that we should put people before profits. He answered that the name of the game in capitalism is to put profits before people. I was a very angry young man and decided it was not the game I wanted to play. So I left and went back to university.
I then got into politics and was elected as a Green. I was an activist involved in much street action. I even went to jail as a consciousness objector.
But at some point I understood I was fighting for peace but had no peace myself. I had become part of the problem. This realization made me want to be peaceful. Coming from India, I knew that spirituality could help for that. So I went to many teachers in India but couldn’t find anyone suiting me. There always was too much God, or too much Guru.
What do you mean by “too much Guru”?
You put everything in the hands of the guru, you subcontract your inner guru to the outer guru. And I had been brought up in a spirit of free inquiry, self-reliance. It was not about everything being preordained etc. The guru trip was becoming too much about building the guru, letting go of your own power.
Then I became the manager of a performing troop, which was touring America. And I realized that the best teachers in the world had come to the West coast of America.
So I went up and down the West Coast for fourteen months. I practiced everything I could find with Sufis, Christians, Native Americans, Hindus. Finally, I met Buddhist teachers and felt it suited me best, because of the free inquiry, the reflective element, the self reliance, the idea that it’s about the suffering in this world and not some other world, the non necessity of a belief in God. It is about how you handle yourself in the here and now, how you deal with suffering here and now.
In particular, I met a teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, who reminded me of Gandhi --- which meant a lot as I had done my thesis on him --- because of his engaged Buddhism. Being spiritual for him is not only about becoming a hermit in a cave but also about being engaged in society.
Most importantly, he allowed me to touch peace. I would do walking meditation and then and there, touched the essence of peace. Not as a notion I had been fighting for. But the actual realization of it.
Once you taste it, you know it is possible. This was in 1987 and I began to practice that way. Since then, I have become used to constantly asking myself: “is this a happy moment? Is this a peaceful moment?”
The practice of present moment awareness as explained by Zen is realization itself. There is no separation between means and end. This moment makes the next moment. There is no point in thinking about the future, you can only have an idea about it. And the past is gone.
And of course I strive to apply the practice to all realms of life --- how to create harmony in my family, in the workplace and so on.
You also became a teacher yourself?
Yes, I was ordained as a Zen teacher in 2000. At some point, when your teacher feels you are ready, there is a transmission of the lamp. So I am the 43rd generation of a particular lineage of Zen.
I am particularly interested in bringing this practice to schools, and sharing it through Sanghas, or group meetings.
I also lead retreats to Buddhist sites, or places like Agra. Those are meant to be transformative journeys. Of course I share all the details about history, craft, architecture. But I also always make sure they are aware of the eleven directions: north, west, east, south, northwest, northeast etc. that’s eight, above and within that’s ten, and the eleventh direction is within. And say it is in Agra. There I will also talk about love, how we can develop it in ourselves, with our family, our friends and so on. It is about awakening of consciousness. The real journey only starts once the person is back home. There, they hopefully look at their reality in a different way – what makes them happy, what gives them peace and so on.
Teaching children is so important. I never learnt as a child how to do emotional regulation or inner resilience. I had to go through a lot of difficulties, a lot of angst to find it out.
There are some basics on how to manage our anger for instance. Or how to pay attention in class, how to develop an attentive mind, concentration, memory, emotional awareness and so on.
So I teach children, and I teach teachers, so it can have some continuity.
I also like to share practical things, relevant to people’s lives. For instance, phone meditation: any time you are about to call someone, stop, breathe and smile.
Calling someone is intruding in their reality. So I first breathe asking myself if I really need to intrude. Second, as words can create so much suffering, I ask that my words be as beautiful as gemstones. I pay attention to the energy of my speech, I try to be aware and mindful when speaking. It is communication at a different level, at an attentive level, knowing I can affect the other. And in the end it all boils down to try and make the world a better place, while keeping myself in a good place.
As an activist I used to try and change the world. Now I know I also have to look after myself. If a tree is ill in the garden, you don’t only go to it and try to heal it. You also look at the flowers, the birds, the other trees. Then you are strong enough to heal that tree.
The anger you used to have is gone?
It’s not gone but I can handle it. My jealousy is not less though.
Meaning?
When people are close to you and somebody else is coming into that space, a strong feeling of jealousy and anger arises.
I then use the same technique with all those destructive emotions. I breathe. If I am not strong enough, I try to change the location, to go out. I recognize the anger rising in me. And I embrace it. I acknowledge that it is me!
It is like a child crying. You do not know why he is crying. You pick him up and he stops crying. You don’t know if he is hungry, or his diaper needs to be changed or something else. You gradually discoverit. The same goes with anger. You embrace it, look at it, and gradually find its root causes. Then you can decide if it’s worth keeping it.
Often you actually find a pattern in the various occurrences of anger. And once you see it, anger is killed off, like by a laser. Recognizing it makes it lose its steam and then it disappears. That’s the magic of the practice.
It is basic psychology, basic Buddhist psychology. The Buddha was really a doctor of the mind. All he was saying is that the mind creates reality. Happiness is not created outside but comes from within. Can you be a happy person? Do you need another person to be loved? You can give that love to yourself, instead of developing that dependency.
That’s the crux of spirituality. The dance of living this life, and the world. It’s a real gift to be alive. So I always breathe in and I know I am alive, I breathe out and I smile to life. It doesn’t need to be a big smile on my face but a pleasant warm inner feeling.
Everything is a miracle. As one of the great Zen masters said in the 9th century, the real miracle is not to walk on water but to walk on earth. That we are sitting here talking is a miracle. If I look at your background, where you came from, your ancestry etc. and mine, this moment, our paths crossing is really a miracle. What were the conditions that allowed for it to happen?
All of this requires a moment-to-moment awareness. Otherwise we lose the magic of the moment, as if it had never been there.
And we don’t know, we may get out of this house and be knocked down by a car. But if in THIS precise moment we can really feel that sense of connectedness and precious magic, then we are living in a different space.
Everyone can do it. There is no great science, or great spiritual mumbo jumbo. It is pretty simple.
And then it’s about practice.
Yes, and about the process. People ask what is my career. And I say --- it is to awake.
Of course other things go on, family and children come, suffering and problems will arise, people dying and getting married, friendships coming and going. Everyone is a teacher.
Talking about career, you went from shoemaking to politics to drama to UNESCO to teaching…
Yes, it’s all about change. It’s not because you are a shoemaker that you have to stay a shoemaker.
Is it at all predestined and predetermined?
No, it isn’t. There definitely are many things outside of our control, outside of our conceptual mind. I call it interconnectedness. But there also is a degree of free will. When a feeling arises, I can choose how I respond to it.
Even at times of major challenges, you manage to keep that awareness?
I try but don’t always manage. It’s a path you know. But I am much better than before, I can see there is a shift.
I see it as a store of consciousness with various seeds --- seeds of anger, jealousy, awareness, love and so on. Which ones do I choose to water?
The seed I want to water most is mindfulness. Even more than love, because I must be aware of love when it is there. Seeds of anger or jealousy exist and I do not repress them, I embrace them yet try not to create conditions that will feed them.
When I was watching 26/11 for instance I was really angry. So I went out for a walk and began looking at the flowers, trees and birds, I started reflecting on that person, Kasab. If I had been brought up like him, in the same place, with the same hardship, indoctrination and incentives, I would most likely have been like him. What is different in me? So who am I to condemn? My anger thus became compassion. And out of that one can act more wisely. How do we help the situation so we don’t get another Kasab?
If you could ask God one question, what would it be?
God who?
If there were such a thing as reincarnation, what would you choose?
I am already choosing. Because I am reborn every moment. From moment to moment, I am just being. It just happens. And what happens is determined by my own choice as well as many other causes and conditions I do not control.
What is your idea of happiness?
I would reverse the question --- happiness happens here and now, but can I be aware of it? Happiness is a matter of being aware of it. It has to be a realization. It is not an idea. The idea of happiness, the idea of my lifespan, the idea of a person, the idea of death are actually the key to our suffering. Because it all is about realization in the moment, not about an abstract idea.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
the hopeful shall inherit
I want to share this article(NYT,Oct 15th) with you to stress the fact that in this age of the Internet and the Spirit,things happen fast,real fast.Struggle isn't the natural order of things, contrary to our brainwashed thinking.The point is to make ourselves perfect channels of the Spirit so that we are able to immediately manifest anything that we may want.
To your immediate awakening.
NEW YORK, United States
I want this column to be good. I want it to be so good, it wins a prize. One of those big prizes, like the ones they hand out every year in Stockholm.
I want it to be subtle and full of goodness and infuse all humankind with hope. Let me be clear: I want it to be uplifting, conciliatory and bold. In fact, I want it to carry some miraculous quality.
I’ve travelled the world, seen the forgotten silos on the plains, the rusting railroad cars, the forbidding watchtowers, the scavengers in the garbage, the fatigue-smudged faces, the refugees sprawled on the school room floor, the lonely lingerers, the freighters hardening the horizon, the beautiful and the damned.
Along the way I’ve learned this: We deny our connectedness at our peril. Let me be clear: This is the 21st century.
I’ve heard the infant’s cry, the sobbing of the bereaved, the old man’s sigh, the whispering of the valley, the stirring of desire, the echo of war, the village bells, the ram’s horn rising, the muezzin’s pre-dawn call to prayer.
That’s a lot of different sounds. So let me be clear: As children of Abraham we are all responsible for one another. This is the age of responsibility.
I’ve known the walls that divide us, the propaganda of hate, the crops that wither, the seas that rise, the networks that go down, the tires that go flat, the light bulbs that go out, the subways that stop and the delays at O’Hare Airport.
That’s a lot of different problems. And I want there to be no doubt: The problems we face can only be solved together.
I want this column to advance peace, to banish the spectre of nuclear winter, to spread solar energy, to stop ice caps melting, to halt pandemics, save energy, spare lives, reconcile Arabs and Jews, and let’s not forget the Persians.
In fact, I want so much from this column, I thought about not writing it, so that what would be left was a beautiful blank space that readers could fill with their most cherished fantasies. I thought about just thinking about it.
But, on further reflection, that struck me as too Rive Gauche for some of my American readers, although certainly not for my good friends in Stockholm (peace be upon them).
A virtual column, waiting to be written, poised atop the vortex, is one filled with infinite possibility. With each word I write I am confining it. The way reality encroaches on fantasy is terrible to bear. But that’s the human condition we share whether we are black, white or — increasingly — brown.
Let there be no doubt: I want Turks and Armenians to embrace, something good for South Ossetia, and peace sans pygmies — forgive me, sans persecutions — in Pyongyang. May the spirit of Moses, Jesus and Mohammad — peace be upon them too — spread in the Holy Land.
Some will say I’m a dreamer. Some might find themselves unable to engage with these engaging aspirations even if this is the age of engagement. But there is no alternative to engagement except, perhaps, divorce, alienation, separation, enmity, competition, rivalry, envy, misunderstanding, threats, intimidation and rage — all of which I reject on principle.
the earth There have always been doubters, sceptics, losers — and Republicans. But I say to them: The hopeful will inherit. And I say to them: Read my mass emailings or see me on Twitter.
I know, Philip Roth writes more than two dozen novels and can’t get a Nobel. But I’m sure I think more beautiful thoughts. If my thoughts were dark I might want to be a novelist rather than a columnist.
I know, Nelson Mandela spent more than two dozen years imprisoned and he did get a Nobel. But, well, I’ve lost my train of thought.
What I know is this: The hypothetical is worthless in history. And I’m sure many of you are saying to yourselves: It’s just fine and dandy hoping for all these wonderful things, but what about deeds, actions, achievements, results?
Forgive me, but that’s so 20th century. We live in a virtual age. We are the Wii-players of history! Our medium is thin air. We don’t have to get our fingers dirty for things to move in the direction we desire.
In conclusion, I know this column has fallen short. I am aware of its shortcomings, its banality and its immodesty. I am humbled by all the great practitioners of this 820-word craft — “art” would be going too far — in whose illustrious footsteps I tread. But I know this: If I’ve given momentum to some global fantasy, my time has not been wasted.
You know, I love Sweden. It’s the anti-Denmark. I love its glistening lakes and its countless Iraqi refugees. The lakes remind us of the beauty of the planet we all share. The refugees express the agony of the human condition — but forget that. Hope trumps experience every time.
Finally, let me be clear: All prize money is payable to me.
To your immediate awakening.
NEW YORK, United States
I want this column to be good. I want it to be so good, it wins a prize. One of those big prizes, like the ones they hand out every year in Stockholm.
I want it to be subtle and full of goodness and infuse all humankind with hope. Let me be clear: I want it to be uplifting, conciliatory and bold. In fact, I want it to carry some miraculous quality.
I’ve travelled the world, seen the forgotten silos on the plains, the rusting railroad cars, the forbidding watchtowers, the scavengers in the garbage, the fatigue-smudged faces, the refugees sprawled on the school room floor, the lonely lingerers, the freighters hardening the horizon, the beautiful and the damned.
Along the way I’ve learned this: We deny our connectedness at our peril. Let me be clear: This is the 21st century.
I’ve heard the infant’s cry, the sobbing of the bereaved, the old man’s sigh, the whispering of the valley, the stirring of desire, the echo of war, the village bells, the ram’s horn rising, the muezzin’s pre-dawn call to prayer.
That’s a lot of different sounds. So let me be clear: As children of Abraham we are all responsible for one another. This is the age of responsibility.
I’ve known the walls that divide us, the propaganda of hate, the crops that wither, the seas that rise, the networks that go down, the tires that go flat, the light bulbs that go out, the subways that stop and the delays at O’Hare Airport.
That’s a lot of different problems. And I want there to be no doubt: The problems we face can only be solved together.
I want this column to advance peace, to banish the spectre of nuclear winter, to spread solar energy, to stop ice caps melting, to halt pandemics, save energy, spare lives, reconcile Arabs and Jews, and let’s not forget the Persians.
In fact, I want so much from this column, I thought about not writing it, so that what would be left was a beautiful blank space that readers could fill with their most cherished fantasies. I thought about just thinking about it.
But, on further reflection, that struck me as too Rive Gauche for some of my American readers, although certainly not for my good friends in Stockholm (peace be upon them).
A virtual column, waiting to be written, poised atop the vortex, is one filled with infinite possibility. With each word I write I am confining it. The way reality encroaches on fantasy is terrible to bear. But that’s the human condition we share whether we are black, white or — increasingly — brown.
Let there be no doubt: I want Turks and Armenians to embrace, something good for South Ossetia, and peace sans pygmies — forgive me, sans persecutions — in Pyongyang. May the spirit of Moses, Jesus and Mohammad — peace be upon them too — spread in the Holy Land.
Some will say I’m a dreamer. Some might find themselves unable to engage with these engaging aspirations even if this is the age of engagement. But there is no alternative to engagement except, perhaps, divorce, alienation, separation, enmity, competition, rivalry, envy, misunderstanding, threats, intimidation and rage — all of which I reject on principle.
the earth There have always been doubters, sceptics, losers — and Republicans. But I say to them: The hopeful will inherit. And I say to them: Read my mass emailings or see me on Twitter.
I know, Philip Roth writes more than two dozen novels and can’t get a Nobel. But I’m sure I think more beautiful thoughts. If my thoughts were dark I might want to be a novelist rather than a columnist.
I know, Nelson Mandela spent more than two dozen years imprisoned and he did get a Nobel. But, well, I’ve lost my train of thought.
What I know is this: The hypothetical is worthless in history. And I’m sure many of you are saying to yourselves: It’s just fine and dandy hoping for all these wonderful things, but what about deeds, actions, achievements, results?
Forgive me, but that’s so 20th century. We live in a virtual age. We are the Wii-players of history! Our medium is thin air. We don’t have to get our fingers dirty for things to move in the direction we desire.
In conclusion, I know this column has fallen short. I am aware of its shortcomings, its banality and its immodesty. I am humbled by all the great practitioners of this 820-word craft — “art” would be going too far — in whose illustrious footsteps I tread. But I know this: If I’ve given momentum to some global fantasy, my time has not been wasted.
You know, I love Sweden. It’s the anti-Denmark. I love its glistening lakes and its countless Iraqi refugees. The lakes remind us of the beauty of the planet we all share. The refugees express the agony of the human condition — but forget that. Hope trumps experience every time.
Finally, let me be clear: All prize money is payable to me.
one helluva life
In the hands of a skilled storyteller, this monumental work will, indeed, open the gates of Fort Knox.The authors are right that no amount of rules can account for a "good life".
However I'm glad that they have given most importance to the power of relationships, especially good sibling relationships.Good friends and siblings last almost all our lives and are, certainly, a godsend to our sanities. God bless them all.
I should also think that having an agenda in life and detached,but determined, commitment to that agenda is a sine qua non to a great living.I have especially noticed people committed to a better community retain a glitter in their eyes much longer than those who obsess about a "good life."
The authors,also, seem to have ignored the devastation caused to people's lives by the combination of big govts and corporations,organized religion and the media and entertainment industry.I would rather salute the human genius that manages to stay afloat despite their depredations.
I would also salute those heroes-a Obama here, a Mohd Yunus there,a Al Gore and a Michael Moore there- who are striving to make a better earth for all of us. Let us follow their paths.In my view that would be one helluva life.
However I'm glad that they have given most importance to the power of relationships, especially good sibling relationships.Good friends and siblings last almost all our lives and are, certainly, a godsend to our sanities. God bless them all.
I should also think that having an agenda in life and detached,but determined, commitment to that agenda is a sine qua non to a great living.I have especially noticed people committed to a better community retain a glitter in their eyes much longer than those who obsess about a "good life."
The authors,also, seem to have ignored the devastation caused to people's lives by the combination of big govts and corporations,organized religion and the media and entertainment industry.I would rather salute the human genius that manages to stay afloat despite their depredations.
I would also salute those heroes-a Obama here, a Mohd Yunus there,a Al Gore and a Michael Moore there- who are striving to make a better earth for all of us. Let us follow their paths.In my view that would be one helluva life.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
those who live by the sword die by the sword
http://www.outlooki ndia.com/ article.aspx? 262519'>http://www.outlooki ndia.com/ article.aspx? 262519'>http://www.outlooki ndia.com/ article.aspx? 262519
Dear Friends,
I would urge you to read this mind blowing article by Arundhati Roy. It is on the so called Naxalite "menace" and has appeared in the latest issue of the Outlook.
The short point is this. If we are to survive as a republic, we must pay heed to the dignity of the poorest of the poor.The issue needs to be widely discussed and debated as it concerns the dignity and the livelihoods of the poorest and the most marginalized of our countrymen.
No algorithm has yet been written for human greed. And observing the history of capitalist "development" of the last 300 years, it is very difficult to be satisfied that expropriating the tribals from their land will indeed lead to their development rather than lining the pockets of the super rich and their ill gotten Swiss bank accounts.
The situation is very grim and it'll be a gross folly not to protest in the circumstances.
Avinash
Dear Friends,
I would urge you to read this mind blowing article by Arundhati Roy. It is on the so called Naxalite "menace" and has appeared in the latest issue of the Outlook.
The short point is this. If we are to survive as a republic, we must pay heed to the dignity of the poorest of the poor.The issue needs to be widely discussed and debated as it concerns the dignity and the livelihoods of the poorest and the most marginalized of our countrymen.
No algorithm has yet been written for human greed. And observing the history of capitalist "development" of the last 300 years, it is very difficult to be satisfied that expropriating the tribals from their land will indeed lead to their development rather than lining the pockets of the super rich and their ill gotten Swiss bank accounts.
The situation is very grim and it'll be a gross folly not to protest in the circumstances.
Avinash
rome burned while Nero fiddled
Thanks, Jayant. We are all miracles of creation, but the problem is we are sleeping.And while we sleep, the world burns.
In this ocean of consciousness that we all share, the collection of our individual consciousness forms the collective consciousness.At this point, this collective consciousness is riven by fears,insecurities, fierce competition, jealousies and, indeed, violence.About 20% of the world's GDP goes into weapons of mass destruction. The world is, indeed, MAD and they call it "realpolitik".But we must understand that this violence starts with each and every one of us, and is rooted in the delusion of "us" versus "them".And also in the utter delusion that one can progress while the other half burns.
It just takes a moment to achieve peace and thereby prosperity for all.Once we realize all of us are deeply interconnected, infact our bodies are the direct product of the common air that we breathe.This delusion can only break when we take this inner journey, as explained in this fantastic interview.Our slumber is clearly disastrous for the future of the human race on this planet.And I'm glad we are all awakening, for without it there is no survival.
Avinash
In this ocean of consciousness that we all share, the collection of our individual consciousness forms the collective consciousness.At this point, this collective consciousness is riven by fears,insecurities, fierce competition, jealousies and, indeed, violence.About 20% of the world's GDP goes into weapons of mass destruction. The world is, indeed, MAD and they call it "realpolitik".But we must understand that this violence starts with each and every one of us, and is rooted in the delusion of "us" versus "them".And also in the utter delusion that one can progress while the other half burns.
It just takes a moment to achieve peace and thereby prosperity for all.Once we realize all of us are deeply interconnected, infact our bodies are the direct product of the common air that we breathe.This delusion can only break when we take this inner journey, as explained in this fantastic interview.Our slumber is clearly disastrous for the future of the human race on this planet.And I'm glad we are all awakening, for without it there is no survival.
Avinash
world peace as our only hope
Dear Friends,
You may check out this interview of Deepak Chopra.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2xkBSrdW18&NR=1
The possibilities for the human species is endless. All of us owe it to ourselves and to our common future to act in concert to convert our present "war economy" to a peace economy.
In Barrack Obama we don't have just an American President but a global statesman.But all of us need to strengthen his hands to secure for all the citizens of the world a future where narrow concerns of ethnicity,language or nationality will be subsumed into peace and prosperity for all.
Let us know that our thoughts, words and deeds hold the key for our glorious tommorrow.Our moment is indeed here. We just have to be aware and conscious of our responsibility.
Wish you an enlightening interview.
Avinash
You may check out this interview of Deepak Chopra.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2xkBSrdW18&NR=1
The possibilities for the human species is endless. All of us owe it to ourselves and to our common future to act in concert to convert our present "war economy" to a peace economy.
In Barrack Obama we don't have just an American President but a global statesman.But all of us need to strengthen his hands to secure for all the citizens of the world a future where narrow concerns of ethnicity,language or nationality will be subsumed into peace and prosperity for all.
Let us know that our thoughts, words and deeds hold the key for our glorious tommorrow.Our moment is indeed here. We just have to be aware and conscious of our responsibility.
Wish you an enlightening interview.
Avinash
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