Tantrism ॥तन्त्रस्य तन्त्रज्ञ॥

Moment of Freedom

2012-01-31T15:35:00.004+05:30

Some wonderful poems by Jim Morrison on 'seeing'.

Moment of Freedom
as the prisoner
blinks in the sun
like a mole
from his hole

a child's 1st trip
away from home

That moment of Freedom

Moment of inner freedom

when the mind is open & the

infinite universe revealed

& the soul is left to wander

dazed & confused searching

here & there for teachers & friends.
____________________

In the second poem, Morrison suggests that even after 'real seeing' begins, it may not be a rosy journey to heaven or to whatever awaits us out there.

If these poems made you wonder...

Then do check out this video from the movie "The Doors"

The Importance of Being Depressed

2011-12-11T19:58:00.006+05:30

Republished from: G Sampath @ Dnaindia.com

By columnist G Sampath.

For a long time now, I’ve had a sneaking suspicion that I’ve been depressed for a long time. Finally, last week, I mustered up the energy to Google the symptoms of depression. It was depressing to find that I have all of them. They are: 1. Feeling sad or empty; 2. Irritability; 3. Decreased interest or pleasure; 4. Weight changes; 5. Insomnia or sleeping too much (I have both, serially); 6. Physically slowed down in one’s movements; 7. Loss of energy; 8. Feelings of worthlessness or guilt, feeling inappropriately guilty over things you have no control over; 9. Brain fog; 10. Thoughts of death or suicide with or without a specific plan.

I can’t say whether there are certain things in my life that depress me or if it’s just that being depressed has become the default setting of my existence. Fact is I am depressed all the time.

But this does not mean there aren’t individual charging points that keep my depression fully charged. For instance, I am depressed by the sun, particularly by its habit of rising every day and leaving a morning on my plate even when I have no appetite for it. I am depressed by the sound of cell phones and television. But most of all, I am depressed by the banality of my emotions, the pettiness of my worries, and the pre-programmed futility of hope.

To give you a simple example: whether or not I cut myself during my morning shave can sink or save my day. My biggest sense of accomplishment comes from finding a parking space where my vehicle won’t be covered in pigeon shit by the time I return to collect it. And a cutting remark from the vegetable vendor can plunge me into despair for weeks.

If these are individual trigger points for the spikes (or troughs) in my mood flow, there are other things that, together, act like an emotional climate control mechanism designed to keep me just short of killing myself. These include the following: my job, my domestic life, and my inability to nurture a sense of self-esteem that is sustainable over the long-term (say, a 24-hour cycle).

Also, I am depressed by crowds, which is a terrible thing to be depressed by if you happen to live in Mumbai. I am depressed by individuals too. My shrink says I can’t relate to people. But I don’t see the point in talking to anyone — unless the person I am talking to is also as depressed as I am and can therefore comprehend the sense of dread that envelops me when I have to talk to someone. But then, if the other person was as depressed as I am, then she wouldn’t want to talk to me either. And yet, unless she talked to me, or I talked to her, neither of us would ever discover that we could talk to each other only because we do not want to talk to anyone. Yet, because we do not want to talk to anyone, we would never be able to talk to each other, either.

If I can continue to live as a depressed person — and evidently I can — should I still seek a remedy for my depression? Or is there some value in being depressed such that I wouldn’t want to let go of it? Maybe we need a constitutional right to access that value — a right to be depressed. The right to death, liberty, and the pursuit of sadness.

Nobody has, to the best of my knowledge, explained why people who have a natural gift for sadness and melancholy should not be allowed to remain sad and melancholic but instead, are looked down upon with pity and condescension by those who are desperate to be happy. This fetishism of happiness and the fascism of fun depress me more than my own sadness.

Say, if each one of us were to pick our favourite song, what are the chances that we would pick a song that celebrates the power of positive thinking, as opposed to a song about loss or grief or pain or sorrow? It can be safely stated as a universal law that sad songs are more beautiful than happy songs. Why is that so? Perhaps, as Keats said, if beauty is truth, then the truth is a sad one. As sad as loss or death or deprivation, all of which are in excess in this world we’ve made for ourselves.

Most of us don’t have the time, or as they say these days, the ‘bandwidth’, to think of loss or deprivation unless it hits us directly. We are in denial about the fact that our society — including many of the things in it that we like — is founded on deprivation.

We are told, day in and day out, that this is the best of all possible worlds. And we force ourselves to believe it, even as we lead lives of quiet desperation in a society we know to be sick. The sicker we are, the more desperate is the need to have fun, to blank it all out. But then, most of us have a rather low threshold for truth. Whoever said that the truth shall set you free got it wrong. It only gets you depressed.

Summation

2011-10-31T05:36:00.016+05:30

On Spiritual Awakening

Spiritual awakening is proportional to the extent and intensity of suffering.

It comes and goes, and then comes back, much like when we wake up from sleep in the morning..

On loss & dealing with loss

Loss of any type is difficult to handle. But the suffering & fear caused by losses and tragedies - this suffering slowly reduces with time WITHOUT ANY RATIONAL REASON.

Acceptance of things as they are sets in slowly, but surely. AUTOMATICALLY.

The past, the morbid nature of human life, the morbid nature of the present moment - with acceptance of these, comes freedom from fear of the future.

Whatever form the future will take, it's all fine - this feeling grows slowly.

Philippians 4:7: And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds....

On the highest stage of Awakening, i.e. Enlightenment

The Buddhas mentioned in various texts have reportedly laughed when they have awakened. Not a cynical, bitter laugh but a laugh of amusement combined with a feeling of perfect safety, empowerment and well being.

On Death
You are alive in this moment.

No Net Movement...

2011-10-20T13:26:00.013+05:30

An Assyrian clay tablet discovered recently reveals that 4000 years back, people were worried about protecting their loved ones, money, property from rouges and brutal government officials.

A look at history, and 1000 years back, people were worried about the same. All cultures. All socio economic levels.

500 years back - same.

50 years back - same.

Today - same.

There can be no yard stick of progress except quality of life. And on this scale, human progress is non existent.

I've been pondering theories on randomness for a couple of months now...

The basic essence of these theories is that there is no net pattern, no net direction to human life. The patterns, the net movements we see in our environment are nothing but our own imagination.

Life's flow is nothing but random interplay between living trajectories IN THE CURRENT MOMENT......no one trajectory can win the battle.

That life flows in no particular direction. All that rises, falls. All that begins, ends. The day will always melt into darkness. Life will always melt into death.

All of our achievements, struggles, insights, wisdom will melt into nothingness one day.

So, struggling in any particular direction, wanting to gravitate towards some 'meaning', working towards some 'higher goal'...it's all contrary to the random nature of reality...all such plans will therefore lead to nothing but frustration.

Maybe there is some truth to the statement that a human's life is like a leaf blowing in the wind...tiny, inconsequential, temporary flight, in an infinite, incomprehensible cosmos..

Like the ocean..no net movement, no direction...just this moment..
Like the clouds in the sky...no net movement...just this moment...

Darkness must balance light. Debt must balance profit.
The continuous interplay between light and dark gives life its beauty.
If there were only light, there would be no form, no structure.

Across The Universe

2011-09-09T19:24:00.010+05:30

There's many ways of relating to the universe...

The Cosmologist typically believes that the truth of the Cosmos lies in mathematical equations, cosmological constants, physical laws.

This is the Mechanistic View.

The mechanical dance of math equations as the ultimate truth of it all is however not good enough for mystics, for example John Lennon...such people prefer to view it all as an endless, living, magical phenomenon in which anything is possible and nothing is constrained at any point by any mathematical or 'rational' boundaries.

Exactly that. Anything is possible.

_________________________________

True Mysticism is about acknowledging the permanent existence of mystery, and not about looking for ways to reduce uncertainty about the environment through mathematics.

Letting go of fear about the future and uncertainty requires a good amount of faith.

In the following poem by John Lennon, he's talking about being seamlessly integrated into the infinite environment. Mentally and Physically. A sign of deep faith in life.

Lyrics of John Lennon's "Across The Universe".

Words Are Flying Out Like
Endless Rain Into A Paper Cup

They Slither While They Pass
They Slip Away Across The Universe

Pools of Sorrow Waves Of Joy
Are Drifting Through My Opened Mind
Possessing And Caressing Me

Jai Guru Deva Om

Images Of Broken Light Which
Dance Before Me Like A Million Eyes
That Call Me On And On Across The Universe

Thoughts Meander Like A
Restless Wind Inside a Letter Box

They Tumble Blindly As
They Make Their Way Across The Universe

Jai Guru Deva Om

Sounds Of Laughter Shades Of Life
Are Ringing Through My Opened Ears
Exciting And Inviting Me

Limitless Undying Love Which
Shines Around Me Like A Million Suns
It Calls Me On And On

Across The Universe

Jai Guru Deva Om
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva

From the movie "Across the Universe"...

A beautiful version by Cyndi Lauper...

Yet another beautiful version by Cyndi Lauper..

Flight of Fancy

2011-09-09T19:22:00.003+05:30

Raw Material:

1. Bollywood actress Preity Zinta.
2. German adult actress Delilah Stone.
3. Galaxy Cluster MACS J00254.4-1222 found at HubbleSite.ORG

Maya of the Mind

2011-08-31T16:42:00.003+05:30

Watch the mind as it tries, in every moment, to co-opt experience by translating it into a story. It tries to draw us away from experience into a mental world that simulates experience. It tries to draw us into an imagined story about the experience. If it succeeds, that story becomes our experience. - Gina Lake.

The mind, it appears, is our biggest enemy. We are hard coded to get fooled easily and there is no limit to the nature, depth and complexity of the illusion that may form in the mind.

As per my understanding of Advaita Vedanta, the biggest illusion could be that events of the human world flow chronologically and are connected by cause and effect.

But how true is this concept - only moments of transcendence of mundane reality could reveal to us.

I don't know if it is true.....

BUT

Have you ever, in your life, looked at something, and found yourself saying...'TIMELESS' or 'AMAZING' or 'WOW'...and found the surroundings dissolving...

Those are, technically speaking, moments of transcendence of human life.

Such temporary transcendence is also known as "Satori". Beautiful things, beautiful concepts, beautiful music, beautiful places, little children, cute puppies, such things can push us into "Satori".

Each experience with Satori is unique. It's like Tea. No two cups of tea can be the same.

Why I am talking of 'Satori' is --- in the moment of 'Satori'...the non chronological nature of the flow of events in the human world could hit you. As per the texts...

PART - II
Carl Jung suggests that memory is merely a dance of archetypes in the transcendental NOW. Everything - the past, the present, and the 'future' - it is all unfolding simultaneously in the transcendental NOW.

Moments of "Satori" could give us a glimpse of this timeless reality. As mentioned previously.

Illusions

2011-08-18T05:07:00.003+05:30

The green and the blue spirals are the same colour.

When tomorrow comes, it's the NOW again.

2011-07-27T16:53:00.011+05:30

A Tolle lecture on the 'transcendental NOW' in which he points out that careful observation will reveal that audio-visual quality of memory --- whether it is from 10 minutes back or 10 years back or 20 years back - it's the same.

The 5 minute old memory is as fragmented, as disjointed as the 5 year old memory. Or the 10 year old memory. Or the 20 year old memory.

Your transcendental self has been, and is, peacefully watching all moments of your life manifesting simultaneously. These moments contain archetypes, i.e., models of you, not the real you.

The future does not exist, except as a thought, a moment on the above mentioned transcendental fabric. It is also unfolding in the NOW, along with the past.

And here is Carl Jung, talking about the relationship between the past and the present moment.

It appears that Jung is in perfect tune with Tolle.

If indeed the 'transcendental NOW' is all there is, one just might prefer to say -- memory or "movement of archetypes" from 10 minutes below, or 10 years "below", or 20 years "below". -- to use Jung's representation.

One dynamic moment, evolving 'vertically'. Outside of time, which can be looked upon as flowing horizontally.

"One dynamic moment evolving vertically" is also a sensibility that physicist Fritjof Capra ponders in 'The Tao of Physics', when he comments on the experiences reported by eastern mystics who claimed to have transcended, and the odd behaviour of phenomena seen at the sub atomic level, phenomena that do not flow chronologically, and appear to move in complex ways that can be summed up as "distortion of time."

An interesting statement pointed out by Eckhart Tolle that points to temporal distortion in human life:

"Before Abraham was, I am."

Some more examples of temporal distortion:

You are reading this for the first time, all over again.
You have been watching this statement forever.
You are visiting this blog for the first time, but you think you have been here before.

Word maps versus the Territory

2011-06-17T20:28:00.003+05:30

When it comes to building maps of reality using words, I try to avoid building maps that are elaborate.

Word maps of reality should move like poetry.

There is no need to try to be 'exact' -- there is no such thing as 'exact'. It is an imaginary thing.

Whatever reality is, it's beyond word-maps, and can be comprehended only through the DIRECT EXPERIENCE.

Reality is totally different from the maps we build.

For example, consider the statement:

"We apply a certain force to a mass, and the mass moves through a distance as predicted by the laws of motion".

This statement is ok, as far as engineering is concerned.

But it is NOT OK, as far as the real flow of reality is concerned.

So what would be the REAL flow of reality in the above mentioned situation?

Answer: IN-DETERMINISTIC. Cannot be defined, cannot be expressed in words. It is a dance of quality that involves all of infinity. That's the only thing that can be said.

Robert M. Pirsig has the following to say, Chapter 5, Lila:

"The fundamental nature of reality is outside language. Language splits things up into parts while the true nature of reality is undivided." [While talking about the POV of mystics.]

He also says..."Quality does not have to be defined. You understand it without definition, ahead of definition. Quality is a direct experience independent of and prior to intellectual abstractions."

The Magical Mystery Tour

2011-04-23T11:49:00.003+05:30

"There is some principle of magic in everything, some living quality.

Something living, something real, is taking place in everything."

- Chogyam Trungpa

Nuclear Weapons, Insanity, Cowardice

2011-04-13T12:16:00.015+05:30

"More than a decade and a half after the Cold War ended, the world's combined stockpile of nuclear warheads remain at a very high level: more than 22,000. Of these, nearly 4,500 warheads are considered operational, of which nearly 2,000 U.S. and Russian warheads are on high alert, ready for use on short notice.

The exact number of nuclear weapons in each country's possession is a closely held national secret."

-Federation of American Scientists.

In the words of U.S. president Jimmy Carter, 1979:

Just one of our relatively invulnerable Poseidon submarines - less than two percent of our total nuclear force of submarines, aircraft, and land based missiles - carries enough warheads to destroy every large and medium-sized city in the Soviet Union. Our deterrent is overwhelming.'

The depths of human insanity, cowardice are bottomless.

The Dogs of War are creatures of fear and hatred. Not in their nature to be peaceful.

And they are everywhere. In every country, every town. Not necessarily only in the armed forces.

The following song by Roger Waters is an interesting comment on oil politics, nuclear weapons, and the severely catatonic state of mind of our politicians...people who take policy decisions that influence billions of lives.

Roger Waters is far from crazy and paranoid.

Value of Life, Detachment, Buddhahood

2011-04-10T20:53:00.019+05:30

Many of us often reach a point where we ponder the value of our existence.

As far as 'value' goes...mystics say that one should avoid attaching value to anything, actually. Nature (which is mystical/spiritual/alive acc. to some traditions) attaches no value to anything.

A beautiful inhabited home, or an abandoned building or a school full of hundreds of children -- a storm will destroy everything in its path.*

There can be many other examples. The flowing river (once again a living phenomenon from within the Hindu/Buddhist paradigm) could drown Mother Teresa and throw ashore a Hitler.**

Our not attaching value to things/people would be in tune with the natural flow....

This approach is at the risk of being interpreted as a cold, desensitised approach to life, of course. But.......

In its true form, our not attaching value to things/people is a neutral, serious, peaceful, highly aware state, a state in which oneness with all that exists can be felt very clearly, and the role of destructive forces is understood completely, and accepted as is. (Buddhahood.)

______________________
*It cannot be said that the storm has negative value for life, so it destroys, even from within the Hindu/Buddhist paradigm that considers the storm to be living. A storm is not a Doer/Thinker like a human being.

** Nature does not appear to have in built values that we humans take so seriously. And we are a small part of nature, there can be nothing in us that does not exist already, in nature. Although we think, plan, do, and nature does not.^a
______________________________

^aThis is a complex discussion on qualities, relationships, and many other issues like the nature and scope of doer-ship and spontaneous, unplanned intelligence.

Religion 101 with Acharya S

2011-03-23T21:32:00.026+05:30

Acharya S is the author of controversial books on the origins of religious ideas dating back thousands of years. Many of these ideas revolve around what is called "astrolatry" or "astrotheology."

Imagine a world in which the masses very seriously start pondering whether religious idols like Jesus or Krishna ever existed at all. Imagine a world where people start questioning the conventionally accepted concept of God.

The following article is from: TRUTHBEKNOWN.COM.

An Atheist Here to Destroy?

It has been suggested that I am an "atheist" and am "very destructive." However, I am neither a theist nor an atheist, although, for the most part, I prefer atheists because they can think for themselves and are usually not as vicious as fervent believers. The atheists' morality is dependable, as it comes not from the outside, imposed by some supernatural figure, some repressive puppetmaster in the sky, but from within, as dictated by their own autonomy, wisdom and maturity. My only problem with extreme atheists is that they are sometimes too cynical and rigid, dismissing all "paranormal" or non-third-dimensional events often without proper investigation. They seem to see nothing sacred about the universe.

I have many more problems with theists, however, as they consider humans to be pathetic, born-in-sin pieces of trash in the face of a glorious God. Real, tangible human beings are to be treated very badly and with tremendous condescension, because they are mere lost sheep and stupid children! The god of their choice, of course, who is invisible and intangible-and, presumably, unable to feel pain (or pleasure), unlike humans-must be praised and complimented to high heaven! Do not love your fellow man, who can actually feel it and who needs it, but "love the Lord your God with all your heart." Extreme theists and atheists share a certain attitude towards creation itself: to wit, it is not divine or awesome.

"The mystic or gnostic does not reside in the realm of belief or disbelief. She or he knows, rather than believing."

I categorize myself as neither of these labels, since I prefer to view the entire cosmos as divine and awesome. I may thus be called "pantheistic." Yet, if I must wear a label, let it be "freethinker." For the moment, for the purposes of this essay, I may also be considered a mystic of sorts, a "homo novus," or, as it were, a new woman.

The mystic or gnostic does not reside in the realm of belief or disbelief. She or he knows, rather than believing. I do not need to believe in the sun. I can see it and feel it. I know it exists.

I also know that there is a sentience that pervades the cosmos. I am it. You are it. The birds singing in the trees and the trees themselves are it. This sentience could be called "God," but it is not a giant man somewhere in outer space apart and aloof from creation. As the esteemed mythologist Joseph Campbell said in "The First Storytellers":

"The idea of God as the absolute other is a ridiculous idea. There can be no relationship to that which is absolute other."

By definition, "God" is OMNIPRESENT, which means it is everywhere, in me, in you and in all creation. Behind the creation is the Great Void, where there is no separation and all is one. This idea - this perception of the mystics and sages of ages - is backed by science, in that ALL IS ATOMS VIBRATING, and we are exchanging atoms with everything around at all times.

All is connected, and we are breathing the air exhaled by others from around the globe. We are washing with Buddha's sweat, so to speak. Or Jesus's, or Hercules's, or that of any other of the thousands of deities man has created.

"ALL IS ATOMS VIBRATING, and we are exchanging atoms with everything around at all times."

The human ego has created an artificial separation that makes it as dense as the material world can get. We are all one; we are the Cosmic Being; yet, the human mind creates "other." This developments ranks as no different from the animals, who constantly play out the roles of predator and prey, of "other" and "alien." But as humans, we have the capacity to go beyond the deluded animal state and realize that we are spiritual beings condensed into an illusion of materiality and separation. We are That Which Is.

To attain to the mystical is to know "God" and all its fullness.

The mystical is paradoxical. It does not take a solid platform. That is why it is MYST-ERIOUS. The mystical lives in the herenow and says neti, neti, neither this nor that. It dictates totality.

So, no, I don't believe in any god person. I know myself as That Which Is. This notion is not a new concept to those who think for themselves and check out the astounding amount of information found around the globe on this all-important subject of "God" and the cosmos, instead of blindly going along with some other person's prescribed path, which is usually very cultlike, sectarian, racist and sexist. The blind leading the blind is dangerous.

"And yes, I am here to destroy. I am the intellectual aspect of Kali, the destroyer, of Shiva, of Zeus the thunderer, and of Jehovah the flattener of cities."

And yes, I am here to destroy. I am the intellectual aspect of Kali, the destroyer, of Shiva, of Zeus the thunderer, and of Jehovah the flattener of cities. But I am also a part and parcel of the Creative Life Force that permeates the cosmos, and upon the ruined foundations of dead and rotten ideologies I build anew. I construct a better creation with a more solid and universal foundation, one not built upon the mental quicksand of racism, sexism and "chosen people" of one ethnicity or another.

I build anew atop this foundation that wisdom is found in every culture, race and creed, and even throughout the cosmos, as it cannot be and never has been contained in one person, one book, one race or one gender. The living truth cannot be constrained by borders and artifice. This universal foundation cannot be chipped away by niggling little forces of racial, political or "religious" ideologies that teach separation and division. For, when one proudly declares he is a Christian, he is also equally proudly declaring that he is NOT a Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or any other "devilish" thing. Plain and simple, this bigotry is ugly, and it is what I'm here to destroy.

"We saw other children, beings with smiling faces exuding innocence. The unbridled, radiant love of life beamed from our souls and flowed from our hearts."

Let us think back to when we were children, before we started getting conditioned - or, more appropriately, brainwashed - by those around us. We did not see race, gender, ethnicity or religion. We saw other children, beings with smiling faces exuding innocence. The unbridled, radiant love of life beamed from our souls and flowed from our hearts.

Then we started to learn that we were no longer one empathetic being but were part of a variety of groups that separated us from each other. Suddenly, we were "boys" or "girls," "blacks" or "whites." We were "Americans" and "Russians." We were "Christians," "Jews" or "Muslims." And those over THERE were not like us over HERE. Again, this divisiveness is extremely ugly and is at the root of all kinds of prejudice and bigotry that go on day in and day out. In reality, these divisions represent false separations.

"The truth is that we all have wisdom, and my wisdom is telling me that now is the time to wake up to our universal selves, as we sit on the edge of global chaos."

The truth is that we all have wisdom, and my wisdom is telling me that now is the time to wake up to our universal selves, as we sit on the edge of global chaos. Because of the various ideologies that are blinding humanity from its true nature, from living in the present, from being awakened, most of humankind is oblivious to what is going on all around. They are frogs in the pot of water, waiting to be cooked and not feeling the heat. Their minds are twisted, and they cannot think for themselves here and now but must constantly look for answers elsewhere.

When you are in such a state, you are not truly living, because you must first wait to close one transaction to begin another. Also, you're stumbling about, somnambulating, without being fully present.

Such is not the state of life but of catatonia. Thus, like Kali, I am hacking away at the veil that keeps you sightless and asleep to the ethereal and awe-inspiring nature of the cosmos.
______________END OF ARTICLE_______

Crazy Wisdom & Wrathful Compassion

2011-02-28T20:06:00.043+05:30

The problems of existence are very rarely one dimensional.

When we get hit by life, we often get hit from multiple angles simultaneously, and many of those angles are inextricably intertwined.

Life situations in general, are not here to make us happy, says Eckhart Tolle.

If this is true, what could it all be about then?

According to Tibetan Buddhism, problems of life exist to WAKE US UP FROM DEEP MYSTICAL SLEEP. And nothing else.

Because gentle compassion will take a long time to wake up the sleeping human animal.

Problems of life are manifestations of infinite cosmic compassion in a TERRIBLE FORM.

Buddhists have a long list of wrathful, fierce, violent, blood drinking deities....who are revered. And considered sane. THOUGH THEY LOOK AND ACT INSANE.

So...if the Buddhists are right about 'Wrathful Compassion', the consequences are tremendous....

Here are some images of Crazy Wisdom Buddhas, Dakinis(Goddesses) from Buddhism and Hinduism.

These deities can be looked upon as Jungian archetypes. Not real entities.

The following is a guest blog entry, from BraneMrys.

__________BEGIN BRANEMYRS________________________
Blood-Drinking Buddhas and Wrathful Compassion:

I hope you had a good Halloween. For the occasion, here is a Buddhist legend, particularly associated with Vajrayana or Tibetan Buddhism.

Once there was a man who heard Buddha preach. So mired in delusion, craving, and aggression was he that he interpreted Buddha's words as a license for indulging himself to the fullest. When the Wheel of Life rolled around, he was reincarnated as a terrible monster, Rudra, and gained great power in all the hells and all the earth.

Faced with such an unregenerate egoism, the buddhas knew that they could not turn Rudra to compassion by appearing to him in their usual form. Therefore they manifested themselves as the herukas. The herukas, also called the wrathful deities, are expressions of buddha-consciousness and buddha-compassion, but under a terrible aspect. They are the expressions of wrathful compassion. Their visible representations are terrible monsters that drink blood.

The way of it is this. Sometimes people so identify themselves with their delusions, cravings, and aggressive impulses that the compassion of the buddhas is something threatening. The buddhas wish to destroy our attachment to this world, to break our slavery to aggressive impulses, to snap the bonds of our delusions. When we identify ourselves too fully with these things, it's not surprising that buddha-compassion has a terrible aspect: it destroys, crushes, devours the very things we think we are. It does so in order to free us, of course; the blood-drinking buddhas have clear minds and compassionate hearts. But their clarity of mind seems to the soul mired in egoism to be terrible and violent (as truth sometimes seems to be), and their compassion of heart appears to be something that devours and destroys (for they devour and destroy our attachments to this world).

In this way the buddhas were able to subjugate the terrible monster Rudra, bringing him to enlightenment and compassion.
___________________END BRANEMYRS____________________

CRAZY WISDOM OF THE COSMOS

Problems of Life:

1. Their only aim is to WAKE US UP. Nothing else. People don't wake up without loud bangs in their surroundings.

2. Are cosmic compassion in a terrible form.

Further reading:

1. Khandro.net
2. The Dangerous Friend.
3. Wiki: Wrathful Deities.

Mystical Look at Profit-Loss

2011-01-10T05:01:00.025+05:30

The stock markets have fallen sharply in the last few days...and the future of equity investments is not so bright, keep in view economic-political factors.

Tragic. For many of us.

Made me dig deep into Advaita Vedanta.

An outlook that tries to instill in us:
That profit and loss are mere flavours of the same underlying unified reality dynamic, and both profit & loss manifest simultaneously.
That profit & loss or success & tragedy - both the positive and negative...both are necessary for a healthy life.

Some Questions...
Wouldn't life get extremely boring, if all we did was guaranteed to succeed?

Imagine playing chess with someone who you know you will defeat. Will you enjoy it? Will you not just want to walk away?

Would we be able to appreciate the value of profit, if loss did not exist in our lives?

Would we be able to enjoy the thrill of winning, if losing was not a part of the game?

Let us analyse the Advaita Vedantic perspective that BOTH PROFIT AND LOSS are the SAME THING.

If we see the effects of profit and loss on the human being...

A sudden huge loss can make a person ill. Of course.

But...a sudden huge PROFIT can also make a person fall ill.
_________________________________

Now let us look at the Advaita Vedanta concept that opposites manifest simultaneously.

When a human is born, his death is also "born" simultaneously, in the very moment of his birth...

Here is another example.

Whenever light manifests, shadows are also born instantaneously.

And the dance between light and shadow gives our visible surroundings its form, its richness, intricacy.

Extreme heat, and extreme cold - both cause the same effects. People in extremely hot regions like African deserts, or the North Pole....both wear HEAVY CLOTHING as well as COVER THEIR HEADS.

Same would apply to profit and loss. Both will always co-manifest.

And the dance between profit and loss would give life its depth, its enrichment.

The famous movies and books of our world are not books that talk of continuous profit but those that talk of profit and loss both.

The Advaita Vedantic perspective says the dance of life just cannot go on if opposing poles do not exist. This would mean that life just cannot go on without both the polar opposites, profit and loss...

A balance between profit and loss is necessary for stability in life.

The focus of all this is --- LOSS IS AN OK BARGAIN.

Some kind of "Net Profit" will accrue over time as a result of the profit-loss dance however. Spontaneously.

This "Net Profit" of life may not always be in monetary terms, however.

Heavy monetary loss, crushing financial insecurity, such things could manifest as "profit" in other aspects of life.

All aspects of life cannot be in the negative zone simultaneously. That is impossible.

We can only hope for more clarity.
More vision.
More perspective.

Famous Misogynists

2010-12-23T19:55:00.015+05:30

This blog entry explores Misogyny. (i.e. Hatred for women.)

Some myths about Misogyny:
1. Misogynists are homosexual. (Not true.)
2. Misogynists are imbalanced. (Not true.)
3. Misogynists are failures. (Not true.)
4. Misogynists are avoided by women. (Not true.)

The following text is from 'Wikipedia: Misogyny', edited by me.

List of well known Misogynists who were also mystics/philosophers.

1. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
2. Arthur Schopenhauer
3. Friedrich Nietzsche
4. Otto Weininger
5. Immanuel Kant
6. David Hume
7. Ludwig Wittgenstein
8. Socrates
9. Gautama Buddha
10. Plato
11. Aristotle
12. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Some elaboration on the above mentioned Misogynists...Not necessarily my views. I do not endorse violence or unjustifiable criticism.

Weininger:
The philosopher Otto Weininger freely admits his misogyny in his 1903 book Sex and Character, in which he characterizes the "woman" part of each individual as being essentially "nothing," and having no real existence, having no effective consciousness or rationality.

Schopenhauer:
The notable philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer has been accused of misogyny for his essay "On Women" (Über die Weiber), in which he expressed his opposition to what he called "Teutonico-Christian stupidity" on female affairs. He claimed that "woman is by nature meant to obey." He also noted that "Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another; but women are by nature enemies."

Nietzsche:
The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is known for arguing that every higher form of civilization implied stricter controls on women (Beyond Good and Evil, 7:238); he frequently insulted women, like all the other groups of people. He is known for phrases such as "Women are less than shallow," and "Are you going to women? Do not forget the whip!" Whether or not this amounts to misogyny, whether his polemic statements against women are meant to be taken literally, and the exact nature of his opinions of women, are controversial.

Wittgenstein:
The philosopher Wittgenstein was influenced by Weininger's views on women Wittgenstein enthusiastically recommended 'Sex and Character' to his peers and in the face of their criticism pointed out Weininger's greatness.

Aristotle:
Aristotle has also been accused of being a misogynist; He has written that women were inferior to men. For example, to cite Cynthia Freeland's catalogue: "Aristotle says that the courage of a man lies in commanding, a woman's lies in obeying; that "matter yearns for form, as the female for the male and the ugly for the beautiful;" that women have fewer teeth than men; that a female is an incomplete male or "as it were, a deformity": which contributes only matter and not form to the generation of offspring; that in general "a woman is perhaps an inferior being"; that female characters in a tragedy will be inappropriate if they are too brave or too clever".

Immanuel Kant:
Charlotte Witt wrote that Kant's and Aristotle's writings contained overt statements of sexism and racism. She found derogatory remarks about women in Kant's Observations on the Beautiful and Sublime.

Socrates:
In the Routledge philosophy guidebook to Plato and the Republic, Nickolas Pappas describes the "problem of misogyny" and states:

"In the Apology, Socrates calls those who plead for their lives in court "no better than women" (35b)... The Timaeus warns men that if they live immorally they will be reincarnated as women (42b-c; cf. 75d-e). The Republic contains a number of comments in the same spirit (387e, 395d-e, 398e, 431b-c, 469d), evidence of nothing so much as of contempt toward women. Even Socrates' words for his bold new proposal about marriage... suggest that the women are to be "held in common" by men. He never says that the men might be held in common by the women... We also have to acknowledge Socrates' insistence that men surpass women at any task that both sexes attempt (455c, 456a), and his remark in Book 8 that one sign of democracy's moral failure is the sexual equality it promotes (563b)."

Hegel:
Hegel's view of women has been said to be misogynist. Passages from Hegel's The Philosophy of Right are frequently used used to illustrate Hegel's supposed misogyny:

"Women are capable of education, but they are not made for activities which demand a universal faculty such as the more advanced sciences, philosophy and certain forms of artistic production... Women regulate their actions not by the demands universality, but by arbitrary inclinations and opinions." [G.W.F Hegel, The Philosophy of Right, quoted in Alanen, Lilli and Witt, Charlotte, Feminist reflections on the history of philosophy.'

Owning Your Destroy

2010-12-18T12:02:00.017+05:30

The following is a guest blog entry at AwakeningWomen.com

Owning Your Destroy
by
Toko Pa Turner.

For as long as I can remember, New Age gurus have been telling us to “stay in the light.” They tell us to meditate, generate and emanate positivity, warning us that we create our own reality and negative thinking begets negative results.

But if you’ve ever found yourself cringing before all that Spiritual Correctness and wondered what was wrong with you, I am here to tell you that you aren’t broken and you don’t need fixing.

As an Ambassadress of the Darkness, it is my duty to sing the praises of wrath, rebellion, grief and destruction. I am here to champion the wild, unapologetic power of nature. I am here to urge us all to drop our composure like sandbags and get stirred up into the real storm of living.

While the New Age movement has awakened many to the power of creative intention, it has simultaneously pathologised negative emotions, striking them from our social palette of acceptability and is driving us all into repression.

First of all, what if those negative emotions aren’t wrong, but totally right? What if the real problem is the misguided attitude that we need fixing in the first place?

When we try to live up to impossible images of spiritually enlightened, all-knowledgeable, selfless superhumans, the dark side of our nature just gains in power. Like shoving a beach ball under water, you may succeed in disavowing your unsavoury bits for a while, but it’s so destabilizing that, when you least expect it, that ball always bursts out from under you.

Negative emotions don’t cease to exist because we’re ignoring them. They just find other ways to express themselves. Sometimes we lash out inappropriately, have confusing crying fits or feel protractedly numb. Most commonly, we slip into depression and, if left to fester, become prone to accidents, physical disease and crisis.

True creative responsibility for one’s life involves more than positive visualisation and action towards our dreams. It also means destroying that which is no longer relevant. Destruction is the counterpoint to Creation and, like the day setting into night, summer falling into winter, life circling towards death, for one thing to be created, another thing must be destroyed.

In the Hindu tradition, the Goddess Kali is worshipped as both the creative and destructive, womb and tomb aspects of the Great Mother. In one of her four hands she holds the head she’s just severed, which fills a goblet with blood. She is often wielding a scythe, surrounded by a snarling fire, adorned with bones, and dancing on a bewildered corpse.

Far from the flaccid suggestion that when something isn’t working we must “let it go,” Kali is the ruthless power behind ‘negative’ emotions which clears the way for new life.

She is the boundaries Anger wants. She is the pounding of Grief’s river, rushing us to new lands. She is the freedom Anxiety shakes for. She is the siren of change that Boredom signals. She is the bliss that Fear promises.

Owning Your Destroy means not only taking a metaphoric machete to the outdated stylings of your stuckness in present time, it also means rewriting your stories of loss. Those things you feel have been taken away too soon, done to you and never been your privilege, are places of untapped power.

As we clear even excellent things from our lives which no longer serve us, we are preparing our possibility space for the unimaginable blessings waiting to be born there.

Just as fire can transform food from its raw form into something digestible, our darknesses are radical transformers. Instead of airbrushing our personalities, they coax us to exaggerate our blemishes, lean into our stagnancy, wounding and limitation.

If we really want to evolve, all we have to do is be exactly where we are. It’s only once you can own your sad, stifled, regretful, pissed off self, that you can blaze up your loving ferocity and have at ‘er.

A writer, musician and considered an authority on dreams, Toko-pa has been interviewed by CNN News & BBC Radio, and her Dreamspeak column has appeared in publications across Canada and the United States, including Synchronicity Magazine, Vitality Magazine, Aquarius, and Nelson Daily News among others. Website: Toko Pa Turner

Analysing Hindu Mythology - I [Bhagwan Ram]

2010-11-04T18:54:00.025+05:30

I was just reading 'Aranya Kand' from Valmiki Ramayan.

The mythological text "Ramayan" is a sacred Hindu text. Bhagwan Ram, the central character of this mythological text, has a mindboggling following in India. He is considered to be God.

Ram is considered to be the 'ideal human being, epitome of mercy, justice and compassion' by 100s of millions of Hindus.

In Aranya Kand, Ram and his brother Lakshman are accosted by a demoness in Panchavati forest. She has has fallen in love with Ram and wants to marry him.

Ram and Laxman have an argument with her, after which she loses her temper and tries to attack Ram's wife Sita.

At this point, Ram instructs Lakshman to CHOP OFF SHURPANAKHA'S EARS & NOSE.

इमाम् विरूपाम् असतीम् अतिमत्ताम् महोदरीम् |
राक्षसीम् पुरुषव्याघ्र विरूपयितुम् अर्हसि || ३-१८-२०

"She is freakish, knavish and overtly ruttish, oh, tigerly man, it will be apt of you to deface this paunchy demoness " Thus Rama said to Lakshmana. [3-18-20]

Here are the verses from Valmiki Ramayan that describe Shurpanakha's injury.

इति उक्तो लक्ष्मणः तस्याः क्रुद्धो रामस्य पश्यतः |
उद्धृत्य खड्गम् चिच्छ्हेद कर्ण नासम् महाबलः || ३-१८-२१

Thus said to that mighty Lakshmana he infuriately drew sword and chopped off her ears and nose before the very eyes of Rama. [3-18-21]

निकृत्त कर्ण नासा तु विस्वरम् सा विनद्य च |
यथा आगतम् प्रदुद्राव घोरा शूर्पणखा वनम् || ३-१८-२२

On hewing off her ears and nose she that ghastly Shuurpanakha blared highly and discordantly, and very speedily fled into forest as she came. [3-18-22]

सा विरूपा महाघोरा राक्षसी शोणित उक्षिता |
ननाद विविधान् नादान् यथा प्रावृषि तोयदः || ३-१८-२३

She that very ghastly demoness when defaced is wetted by blood and blared many a blare like a cloud in cloudburst. [3-18-23]

सा विक्षरंती रुधिरम् बहुधा घोर दर्शना |
प्रगृह्य बाहू गर्जन्ती प्रविवेश महावनम् || ३-१८-२४

She that gruesome one in her appearance clasped herself and thunderously entered similarly gruesome forest while her blood fountained and profusely exuded. [3-18-24]

Image source:Columbia.EDU

The Search For Meaning - ACIM lessons

2010-08-31T00:29:00.067+05:30

The inspiration behind this blog entry is a very interesting channel I found on youtube.

The channel is ACIM esstentials featuring Auntie Patricia (Patricia Robinett)

Here's
Auntie Patricia on 'Meaning versus Meaninglessness', ACIM Lesson 004.

People all through the ages have been searching for the 'meaning of life'.

I don't think this 'meaning' has been found. Because I'm not sure there exists any 'absolute meaning' in the realm of the mind.

The 'meaning of life' cannot be some complicated network of mental concepts.

The intellectual route in the search for 'meaning' is not wrong, but will eventually take one to the point where all 'meaning' will dissolve...into nothing...

I believe that the moment meaninglessness is seen clearly.
Is the moment in which MEANING will show itself.
Clearly.

The ACIM route into the realm of true meaning, via the dissolution of the 'meaningless meaning' we attribute to things and events:

1. Nothing I see means anything.

2. I have given everything I see all the meaning it has for me.

3. My thoughts do not mean anything.

4. My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.

I currently believe, that the absolute, self evident meaning, when it is finally seen clearly, will be accompanied by the dissolution of the mind, signifying a total withdrawal from worldly affairs.

And the mind that can see to an extent, the meaninglessness that exists, can see, to an extent, the absolute, self evident meaning of it all.

Digging deeper into the ACIM perspective:

A. If thoughts do not have any meaning, it means that INTERPRETATIONS that thoughts give to situations rising in the surroundings are absurd and meaningless.

Further...memories are also thoughts. When a memory comes, it comes as a thought.

If statement A. is true, it follows that mental movies that pretend to be memories are not really memories, but are pretending to be memories. And their content is also the same - absurd and meaningless. And this takes me to my post on CARL JUNG's commentary on 'Time'.

To people who subscribe to the Advaita Vedantic perspective of MAYA, the following statement will ring true:

Meaningless thoughts from the void are projecting or generating the illusion of a meaningless world that exists only to the extent it is observed.

Quote by Ramesh Balsekar:

In the meditation for November 27 in A Net of Jewels (1996), Ramesh Balsekar says,

"Breathing goes on by itself while the deluded individual thinks it is he who is breathing. Thoughts come from outside, arising spontaneously through intervals of mental vacuum, and he thinks it is he who is thinking. The thoughts get transformed involuntarily into action, and he thinks it is he who is acting. All the while, he is doing nothing but to misconstrue the actions of the Totality as his own action."

Update 2011:

Stepping beyond conclusions & intellectual concepts, judgments, straight into the realm of pure faith...this song is very profound christian mysticism...

The Interplay of Opposites

2010-08-18T20:33:00.033+05:30

Consider the following situation:

Father throws out his two errant sons because they are useless.

One son dies in the harsh environment of the outside world.

The other son thrives in the harshness, and becomes a successful man.

So the question is....

Was this act of the father Good? or Evil?

Perhaps it was BOTH Good and Evil?

Perhaps it was neither Good nor Evil?

The fleeting, illusory qualities of MAYA are difficult to classify, separate. Because of their inherent oneness.

Here is a beautiful christian mysticism number that tries to instill that there is a deep relationship between opposing qualities of life.

Lyrics
If you believe in light, it's because of obscurity
If you believe in joy, it's because of sadness
If you believe in God...it's because of the devil

This concept can be found in physics, freudian psychology, buddhism, hinduism too.

So if opposing qualities of life are mere aspects of the same unified whole, mere flavours of the same continuum, it would mean that qualities like cruelty, madness, sadness, hatred, disease, death...all emerge from the deepest level of life itself...
just like their opposite qualities.

In his book the "Tao of Physics", Fritjof Capra writes...

"In our normal state of consciousness, this unity of opposites is extremely hard to accept...

But when mystics transcend this realm of intellectual concepts, they become aware of the relativity and polar relationship of all opposites. They realise that pleasure and pain, life and death, sadness and joy are not absolute experiences belonging to different categories, but are merely two sides of the same reality. Extreme parts of a single whole."

And what is this 'single whole'....the answer to this question does not follow simple logic that our minds are accustomed to.

Because over here, we are dealing with nothing but the infinite....

It moves. It moves not.
It is far. It is near.
It is within all this.
And it is outside of all this.
- The Upnishads.

SUMMARY:

OPPOSING QUALITIES OF LIFE ARE NOT ABSOLUTES. THEY ARE DIFFERENT FLAVOURS OF THE SAME CONTINUUM.

Manifestation of Infinite Silence

2010-08-06T10:30:00.056+05:30

Consider the statement:

"BE AWARE OF THE EMPTY SPACE IN YOUR IMMEDIATE SURROUNDINGS".

Does this statement suddenly add any extra quality to your perception?

If yes, then this blog entry is for you.

॥प्रज्ञापारमिताहृदय॥
॥गते गते पारगते पारसंगते बोधि स्वाहा॥

..The Heart Sutra..
Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening, all-hail!

"Form is Emptiness...Emptiness is Form"

In the following passages...there is nothing to understand.

These words are just pointers that we are surrounded by infinitely deep mystery. Beautiful mystery.

This infinite mystery is not far away in deep space.
It is all around us.
It is above us.
It is behind us.
It is below us.
It surrounds us.

Eckhart Tolle explains that awareness of empty space and silence are the key to seeing this beautiful mysterious infinity that is ever present in our surroundings.

Terms used by Tolle:

1. UNMANIFESTED = NO-THING. NOTHINGNESS. EMPTINESS. INFINITE SILENCE.
2. MANIFESTED = PHYSICAL WORLD.

SILENCE
(Modified Eckhart Tolle Passage.)
The Unmanifested is not separate from the manifested. It pervades this world, but it is so well disguised that almost everybody misses it completely. If you know where to look, you'll find it everywhere.

Do you hear that dog barking in the distance? Or that car passing by?

Be aware of the distance between you and the sound.

Be aware of the silence that surrounds the distant sound.

Paying attention to outer silence creates inner silence: the mind becomes still.

Every sound is born out of silence, dies back into silence, and during its life span is surrounded by silence. Silence enables the sound to be. It is an intrinsic but unmanifested part of every sound, every musical note, every song, every word. The Unmanifested is present in this world as silence. This is why it has been said that nothing in this world is so like God as silence. All you have to do is pay attention to it. Even during a conversation, become conscious of the gaps between words, the brief silent intervals between sentences. As you do that, the dimension of stillness grows within you. You cannot pay attention to silence without simultaneously becoming still within. Silence without, stillness within. You have entered the Unmanifested.

SPACE
(Modified Eckhart Tolle Passage.)
Just as no sound can exist without silence, things cannot exist without the empty space that enables them to be.

Every physical object or body has come out of nothing, is surrounded by nothing, and will eventually return to nothing.

Not only that, but even inside every physical body there is far more "nothing" than "something." Physicists tell us that the solidity of matter is an illusion.

Even seemingly solid matter, including your physical body, is nearly 100 percent empty space -- ~~so vast are the distances between the atoms compared to their size.~~ What is more, even inside every atom there is mostly empty space.

What is left is more like a vibrational frequency than particles of solid matter, more like a musical note.

Buddhists have known this for over 2,500 years.

"Form is emptiness, emptiness is form," states the Heart Sutra, one of the best known ancient Buddhist texts.

The essence of all things is emptiness.
___________________________________

AWARENESS OF THE EMPTY SPACE IN THE SURROUNDINGS.

Awareness of the SILENCE that SURROUNDS SOUND.

This is the key to the infinite, unspoken mystery.

Further Reading:
Dakini Notes on Psychedelic Science.
Dakini Notes on Psychedelics.

Gayatri Mantra, Nav Rasas, Awakening

2010-07-30T00:19:00.040+05:30

ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः ।
तत् सवितुर्वरेण्यं ।
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥

Om Bhoo bhuvah svaha
Tat savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi
Dhio yo nah Prachodayaat

Table reproduced from Shanti Mayi

*Sanskrit*	*Translation*	*English Version*
OM	*All of existence. Perceptive vibration of the cosmos. The Almighty. Life.*	*Throughout the experience of Life*
*BHOOR*	*Coming. The physical world. Vital energy.*
*BHUVAH*	*Going. The mental world. Destroyer of suffering.*
*SVAH*	*Balance. The intellectual world. Embodiment of happiness.*
*TAT*	*That; indicates the three planes of experience, isness, pure being, God.*	*That essential nature*
*SAVITUR*	*Radiant brilliance shinning forth from nowhere. Bright, luminous, like the sun. Knowledge. Male principle.*	*illuminating existence*
*VARENYAM*	*Adorable. Venerable. Supreme.*	*is the adorable*
*BHARGO*	*Permeated with Magnificence. The destroyer of sins.*	*One.*
*DEVASYA*	*Divine. Intrinsically pure and brilliant.*	*One.*
*DHEEMAHI*	*Meditation-focused, absorbed. Receiving.*
*DHIYO*	*Intellect.*	*May all beings perceive through subtle and meditative intellect*
YO	*Who*
*NAH*	*Us (Out of one into many; Yo-Nah: Female principle.)*
*PRACHODAYAAT*	*Inspire, enlighten and ignite.*	*the brilliance of enlightened awareness.*

Here is a simpler translation:

ॐ OM Symbol of the Brahman
भूः Bhoo Bhu-Loka (Physical plane)
भुवः Bhuva Antariksha-Loka (Astral plane)
स्वः Svaha Swarga-Loka (Celestial plane)
तत् Tat That; Transcendent Paramatman
सवितु Savitur Of the Sun
वरेण्यं Varenyam Fit to be worshipped or adored
भर्गो Bhargo Light, Illumination
देवस्य Devasya Divine
धीमहि Dheemahi Let us meditate
धियो Dhiyo thoughts
यो Yo Which
नः Nah Of us, Our
प्रचोदयात् Prachodyat Enlighten; Guide

“The Cosmos is the giver of life, the remover of myopia, the bestower of sanity; I pray to the Cosmos to bless us with enlightenment and awakening and dazzle us with its intelligence.” - My interpretation.

The meaning is awareness of the environment around us, in all its forms and flavours, at all its scales, humble or huge, and the appreciation that it enlightens.

The sanity, the illumination that exists...tries to come to us through our environment. Sometimes we are given sweets. Sometimes chillies. By universal wisdom. So that we may awaken and see what is going on around us...

In fact, we are given the entire Nav Rasas. And through these Nav Rasas, which are sometimes tough, sometimes soft....life toughens us, shapes us, awakens us, illuminates us.

This tough illumination that flows continuously, 24/7/365 -- it is this very light, this very awareness, that will guide us out of the cycle of birth/death, at the end of this life or in a succeeding one as per a pre-destined trajectory.

Birth/Death cycle, pre-destined trajectory, both are religious concepts - my point of view towards these concepts can be summed up as: NOT literal.

It would be great to look upon the different elements of the environment as *one unified conduit of the Cosmos* through which it sends the Nav Rasas to awaken us...

We need to awaken because we are asleep, experiencing MAYA...according to hindu/buddhist concepts. And it's very possible that we are asleep. Just look at the condition of the world. Nobody knows what's going on.

We are a bit like the mythological KumbhKaran who needed a lot of tough treatment from the environment before he finally woke up.

The "pre-destined trajectory" concept -- sort of points to a *multidimensional reality* , because it means 'upon full awakening, we wil become what we always were'.

Summary :
This mantra reminds us of the amazing, dazzling splendour of the infinite cosmos. And makes us aware that it is nothing but eternal, infinite cosmic wisdom that is playing with us through our surroundings.

All that has ever happened. All that is happening. And all that will ever happen. Every tiny bit of it. It is all perfect. Often it is tragic. But the tragedy is also perfection and necessary for our illumination.

Because Humans need to be SHOCKED INTO AWAKENING.
Nothing else Works.

Shadow Dominates Perspective

2010-07-17T00:45:00.018+05:30

^{Image source: Dr. Anne Hilty Blog, Pulp International}

Your shadow dominates your perspective.

Perspective needs correction.

The shadow is eternal.

The shadow is you yet not you.

Everything that exists is already in your perspective.

An interesting quote... "He who has no shadow, is in utter darkness..."

Further reading on the Shadow : Dakini Notes

Octopus Paul's Gospel Status...

2010-07-12T21:45:00.038+05:30

This string of FIFA world cup result 'predictions' by "Octopus Paul" is certainly going to encourage people's tendency to believe in frauds like fortune tellers, tarot readers, astrologers, palmists and misc psychic nuts.

Already this world is riddled with superstition and pseudo science.

It's not just the stereotypical housewife or the illiterate person who is superstitious....A HUGE number of educated businessmen too take their business decisions based NOT on analyses by financial professionals...but...based on astrological predictions! For example Business Astr.olo.gers, Ast.roSa.gar, Sensex Prediction. If people in the businessworld were not superstitious, why would such pseudo scientific businesses thrive?

These 'astro predictors' claim to be experts in mysticism and spirituality.

Pure mysticism can NEVER endorse astrology, palmistry, tarot, etc. Such pseduo science is not a part of real mysticism. Cannot be. Pure mysticism does not 'predict'.

Predicting Reality is not possible.

Coming back to Octopus Paul....

It's common sense that only the successful 'predictor' will gain public attention.

For the ONE Octopus Paul that succeeded, one can imagine how many others must have tried their luck and failed. It is just a coincidence that Octopus Paul got the correct sequence.

A HUGE number would have tried - because a sports event of such magnitude - involves a huge amount of betting.

One, of the thousands who tried, managed to nail the winners sequence. What is so magical about that?

Some info from Wiki: Paul_the_Octopus:

Paul's apparent success is comparable to a run of luck when tossing a coin.

This connection has been made by Professor Chris Budd of the University of Bath, Professor David Spiegelharter of Cambridge University, and Etienne Roquain of Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris.

The Statistics:

1. The probability of 12 or more successful predictions in 14 attempts is p = 0.0065 (~0.65%).

2. The probability of 8 successful predictions out of 8 attempts is p = 0.0039 (~0.39%).

3.Given that the first three matches could have ended in a draw, the chance of an 8/8 score is 1/864 (= 1/3³ X 1/2⁵) ~ 0.11%.

4. The probability of final four predictions being correct is 1/2⁴ = 0.0625 = 6.25%.

UPDATE:

Probability of 8 on 8 correct (when only two choices are there) is 1/2⁸ = 0.0039 or 0.39%. That's 39 on 10000.

Given that the first three matches could have ended in a draw, the chance of an 8/8 score is 1/864 (= 1/3³ X 1/2⁵) ~ 0.11% OR 11 in 10000.

These calculations are established probability theory.

You could say that out of every 10000 people who try to guess the correct sequence, about 11 will get it right.

Out of 10,000 octopuses who try to guess the winning teams (all 8 matches of 2010) --- there will be about 11 Octopus Pauls.

An event as huge as the FIFA world cup ---- tens of thousands of people will try to guess the correct sequence --- we dont hear about the failure. We hear only about the success.

Link: Probability of 8/8 correct.

Some comparisons:

1. The chance of a player receiving a triplet of aces in a game of cards is smaller than Octopus Paul's 8/8 guess (11 on 10,000). The chance of a triplet of aces is about 2 in 10,000. But it can happen.

Beast Nature

2010-07-10T21:31:00.026+05:30

I recently came across the following...

If you truly want to be happy, renounce the following:

Anger, Pride, Competitiveness, Concern, Contempt, Doubt, Expectation, Envy, Fear, Guilt, Greed, Grief, Hostility, Impatience, Misery, Revenge, Shame & Suspicion.

“Give up all bad qualities in you, banish the ego and develop the spirit of surrender. You will then experience Bliss.” --- Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

How meaningful are such messages? Are they useful guidance?

The fundamental question is.... "WHAT ARE WE?"

The answer is....
We are animals. Carnivores. Carnivores with claws. Teeth. Lust for blood. Pride. Anger. Lust for Chaos, Mayhem, Death. This is our TRUE NATURE.

The human is incomplete without such qualities.

You could call them carnivorous qualities.

Wanting to give up your carnivorous qualities because they can be used to harm others is like wanting to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Common sense says enjoy your carnivorous qualities without harming others. It does not have to be more complex than that.

The human without carnivorous qualities in his personality is like a human without teeth and nails.

The complete person is like the mythological Shiva.

The mythological Shiva has a dual nature (nectar and poison).

He is light. He is also darkness.

We humans too have the same dual nature, nectar and poison. Light and darkness.

Our poisonous side is as fundamental as our nectarous side. So it makes no sense to try and banish or reject our poisonous, negative, flawed side. It is a part of us.

Maya, Advaita Vedanta with Remez Sasson

2010-03-28T03:26:00.009+05:30

The five senses make us feel that the world is real. Seeing the solidity of the objects around us, feeling the impact of the senses, it is hard to deny the validity of what we see. Everything looks real and we never stop to question this reality.

The mind is attached to the five senses and accepts everything as real without questioning. When we bump into a table or a wall and we feel pain, it is difficult to say that we are imagining it. When we see with our eyes, hear sounds, smell, or when we feel heat or coldness, we accept these sense impressions as real.

Some say that the world is an illusion, Maya in Eastern terminology. Can we accept this when everything looks so real? Can we regard the world as imagination?

We need the five senses and the mind to be conscious of the world, which means that the world is dependent on them. Without the senses and the mind the world does not exist for us.

If we say that a real thing is something that always exist with no gaps, then the outside world is not real. There are times besides sleep, when we are so busy that we are not conscious of what is going on around us. When there are no sensory sensations, as while being in a floating tank, or when in deep meditation, we are still conscious, but not of the world. This means that sometimes we are conscious of the world and sometimes we are not.

After we wake up from sleep, or get out of deep meditation and return to ordinary consciousness, we feel that there was a gap in our consciousness of the outside world. [But the reality is...] there was no world at that time.

If we endeavor to pay attention to our consciousness we will come to the conclusion that the outside world comes and go, while the awareness of our inner consciousness never wavers.

The world exists for us only when the senses and mind are directed towards it, and cease to exist for us the moment we silence the senses and mind. During deep sleep we do not experience the world because the senses are not active. Can you prove the reality of the world while you are deeply asleep? When you wake up from sleep other people may tell you that the world existed, but can you prove that these people existed while you were asleep?

After waking up we may invent all kinds of theories to prove the reality of the world. Yet, these are only mental theories. During sleep it was non-existent for us. The world disappeared together with time.

During sleep dreams seem very real, but upon awakening we realize that they were just dreams.

So it is with this world we call reality. It is possible to wake from it too.

Sri Ramana Maharshi, the great Indian sage, has said that the difference between a dream while sleeping and the dream we call wakefulness is only of duration, one short and the other one long.

Further to the above, each person interprets and relates to other people's behavior, words and attitudes in a different way, according to the contents of his subconscious mind. No one's world is like another. Again, we see illusion at work. A world is created, based on our interpretation of what we see hear and sense.

Mind and thoughts create the world

Thoughts arise in the mind and we become aware of them. The same kind of thoughts tend to arise again and again. If we let this process continue, it goes on incessantly. These thoughts make us expect, behave, talk and act in a certain personalized way, and thus cause the people we come in contact with, to treat us and relate to us in a certain manner.

We usually continue with the same way of thinking, and live the same kind of life each day, whether we like it or not. These thoughts shape our circumstances and relationships. It is like watching the same movie over and over again. If we want to watch a different movie we have to change the reel or cassette. This happens by changing our thoughts. This is how creative visualization works, and there is nothing supernatural about this.

The world we experience and the life we live, are the reflections of our thoughts. The mind creates a world of illusion. By changing our thoughts, we change the illusion and experience a different reality. We do not create a world, only an illusion that looks real. No unusual power is involved here. We are living in Maya and are changing the Maya.

When we are able to still the mind and the senses, our consciousness seems to shift into a new dimension.

Actually the higher dimension is there all the time, only that the mind makes us think otherwise. When there are no thoughts in the mind, the world we know and believe is real, loses its reality. We become conscious of the world beyond the mind and illusions.

Waking up from illusion...
We can wake up completely, understand and become conscious of the illusion of Maya, and live, as we really are, as a pure, formless, beginning-less and endless consciousness. Due to illusion it seems as if we are all separated, having individual selves and each living a different life. Even when we wake up from Maya, its play may go on. We continue to see and experience it, yet it is of no concern to us anymore. Outwardly we may continue to live our life in the same manner, but we are really awake.

It is like a movie show. A person watching a movie gets so involved with the characters and with what happens on the screen. He may become happy or sad with the heroes, get depressed, shout or laugh.

If at a particular moment he decides to stop watching the screen and manages to withdraw his attention from the movie, he gets snapped out of the illusion the movie creates. The projecting machine will go on projecting images on the screen, but he knows that it is only light projected through the film onto the screen. What is seen on the screen is not real, but yet it is there. He may watch the movie, or he may decide to close his eyes and ears and stop looking at the screen.

Have you ever watched a movie, when at some point the reel got stuck or there was a power failure? What happens to you when you watch an interesting, absorbing film on the television and then suddenly there are commercials? You are snapped out of the illusion to the world around you. When you are sleeping and dreaming, and someone wakes you up, you feel thrown out of one world to a different one. It is the same in the life we call reality. It is possible to wake up from it.

One who has managed to still his mind and senses through proper training, may go on living and acting in the world like the person in the cinema hall, who is no longer interested in the movie. He learns how to get out of the illusion and wake up. If he is no more a slave to illusion and dreams, he is free. He sees everything as it really is. Contrary to what you might think, such a person functions in his daily life in a better way, is stronger, happier, very practical and free from worry.

In the East, metaphors are used in order to demonstrate what illusion is in relation to Reality. A jewel made of gold may be called an earring or a necklace, but actually it is only gold. Before it became a jewel and after it is melted it is only gold. Clay is shaped into vessels such as plates, cups, or vases, but they are only clay.

Due to convenience of speech we call these objects made of gold or clay by many names, but they are really only clay or gold. Everything in existence is "made" from the Original Substance, and is not a "real" thing standing by itself, exactly as in the above examples. Nothing has a reality of its own.

A mirage is not real, but yet we see it. A dream taking place while sleeping is not real, yet we experience it during the time of the dream as a reality. A hologram looks 3D, while it is actually flat.

In the East, one of the metaphors of explaining reality and illusion is that of the rope and the snake. In the dark we may see a rope and mistake it for a snake. When there is enough light we realize that it was only a rope, and the snake disappears.

It is only due to some kind of illusion that we see a world. Everything is in the mind.

Rage Against The Machine

2010-01-03T15:47:00.026+05:30

I sliced this video out of the movie - "MindWalk"(1990).

Its based on Fritjof Capra's novel - "The Turning Point."

This movie is a clash between the following points of view. 1. The Descartes-Newton Mechanistic/Reductionist point of view of the Cosmos, (that looks upon life as a reducible natural machine.) 2. Chaos Theory's Holistic point of view of the Cosmos (that rejects the Descartes-Newton Mechanistic/Reductionist point of view.) 3. A Poet's point of view of the Cosmos.

The Poet's Point of View is:
"I feel as reduced being called a holistic system as I do being called a biological machine."

The Poet rejects the Descartes-Newton point of view. As well as the Chaos Theory point of view.

Life is not reducible. Life has no building blocks. No fundamental level. The human being is not a reducible biological machine that gets "mathematically influenced" by the Environment/Cosmos.

Further Reading: Being and Quirkiness
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The Shadow Self

2009-10-21T10:28:00.023+05:30

Tantric truths are seldom easy to handle. The tantric path is not a comfortable, easy path. It entails a total disintegration of what you THINK. Your perspectives, beliefs, conclusions, self image. Et al.

Progress happens through DESTRUCTION or the illusion of it.
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Passage from Kundalini-Teacher.Com

PART 1

Carl Jung defined the Shadow Self as "that which we think we are not."

...You may believe that you are not like your neighbor who does this or that bad thing, but if those negative qualities you judge, were not also a part of you, then they would not trigger your emotions...

You may believe that you are a person who is not cruel or unjust, but that belief is a blockage that casts a shadow that can blind you to the cruelty within your ego that is hidden. The shadow shows the "Ugly Mirror of All that Is": you are what you judge yourself not to be. You are what you judge others to be....

PART 2
Passage from: SHADOW DANCE

The Shadow

The Shadow, is a psychological term introduced by the late Swiss psychiatrist, Dr. Carl G. Jung. It is everything in us that is unconscious, repressed, undeveloped and denied. These are dark rejected aspects of our being as well as light, so there is positive undeveloped potential in the Shadow that we don’t know about because anything that is unconscious, we don’t know about.

The Shadow is an archetype. And what an archetype simply means is that it is typical in consciousness for everyone. Everyone has a Shadow. This is not something that one or two people have. We all have a Shadow and a confrontation with the Shadow is essential for self awareness. We cannot learn about ourselves if we do not learn about our Shadow so therefore we are going to attract it through the mirrors of other people.

Projection and Denial

Projection is an unconscious psychological mechanism. We all project onto other people parts of ourselves that we disown, that we deny. We will usually not identify with the projected quality or characteristic at all. It’s them. It’s not us.

We will feel highly uncomfortable when we are around someone that is carrying a part of our Shadow. As I said before, and it bears repeating, there will often be a repulsive element to it. We will be repulsed by that person and whatever they stand for. It will feel like whoever they are is totally against our principles, moral values and ideals and we will be highly critical of their actions or way of being in the world.

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PART 3

Here is an old artwork of mine, in which I have shown a nice, pleasant looking Sharon Stone transforming.....

There is nothing wrong with this transformation. Is my contention. Its not illness or insanity. It is INTEGRATION.

"THE INTEGRATED BEING" (My ArtWork)

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Recommended Link for understanding the 'SHADOW' in more detail: Dakini Notes.

The Infinite Microcosm & True Nature of Reality

2009-10-08T15:37:00.043+05:30

Photo Ctsy. Paige Bradley

Summary: The microcosm is an infinitely deep non-mathematical ocean. The sub-atomic level as we know it barely scrapes the surface.

The Mathematical Map
Consider the equation Force = Mass X Acceleration.

Is it what is actually happening in reality?

Or is it just a mathematical description of what's happening, using references, concepts, terms, that we find convenient?

This equation is just a map of reality. It maps a certain natural process, that, in itself is *not* mathematical.

Nature does not flow in terms of numbers. Nature does not calculate the weight and chemical composition of a rock before creating it.

Nature did not precalculate/predecide the voltage range of lightening, or the pH level of the dead sea or any sea for that matter. Nor did it calculate the mass of the sun and the planets before creating the solar system.

Nature flows in a smooth, continuous, non mathematical flow. Like a song. The mathematical map of a song, in terms of numbers, amplitudes, frequencies...is that a complete expression/representation of the song?
_______________________________

Nature has no 'mechanism'. It is not a machine that runs logically and mathematically.

Building a mathematical model of a process, extrapolating it, and expecting the process to manifest in the same manner or manner similar to your extrapolation can never lead to correct results. Because nature does not 'extrapolate itself mathematically'. We think it is this way because we confuse the map with the territory.

Mathematics, no matter how evolved, no matter how refined....will always remain just a map.

A fractal mathematical map of corals(below)...can never 'predict' how a 'real coral' will manifest next. For the abovementioned reasons.

Photo Ctsy. Miqel.Com.
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The Infinite Microcosm
The GAP between the scientific map of nature and the actual flow of nature can never go away because the microcosm is infinitely deep AND because the microcosm/macrocosm is not mathematical.

The cosmos will throw our way deeper and deeper mysteries, even if mankind survives a billion trillion years without forgetting its knowledge.

We can 'see' things at the nano level (10^-9m) using existing technology.

I do not agree that it is impossible to see below 10^-35m...i.e. Planck Length.

The day we see at 10 X nano level (10^-90m), we'll see newer things.

The day we 'see' at 100 X Nano level (10^-900m) we'll see newer things.

There would certainly be things going on at 1000 X Nano level (10^-9000m).

And the 100,000 X Nano level (10^-900000m).....Ad Infinitum.

As we dive deeper and deeper into the microcosm....the complexity and the richness will keep on INCREASING. This conclusion of mine is based on my understanding of the "FRACTAL GEOMETRY OF NATURE".

And...assuming that the things we see at the 100,000 X Nano level (10^-900000m) will be a repetition of the things we have seen at the nano level (10^-9m).....this assumption would not be a wise assumption.

So forget your electrons, protons, quarks...these mathematical maps just barely scrape the surface of the infinite microcosm.

The cosmos was, is, and will remain...forever mystical.

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Further Reading: Being And Quirkiness

The Expression of Healing...

2009-09-07T03:46:00.007+05:30

I'm back, after a long gap of 6 months...will update once a week, at least, from now on.
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Was discussing the frightful level of loneliness and lack of authenticity in human life with a friend.

There is a severe lack of substance in human interactions. Which leads to a host of problems for EVERYONE.

Too much polite conversation is bad for health. Lack of proper expression of how one feels leads to a severely restricted flow of life within us...

We often think we can express ourselves to a "REAL" friend...but years of repression and polite, careful conversation turns into a habit. We are unable to express. And if we do succeed in expressing things to a friend, it leaves us feeling afraid, vulnerable...
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So what is the answer? The answer lies in finding a channel for expressing SORROW...

The basic concept:

Fundamental to healing is catharsis. Slow or fast. It does not matter. As long as the catharsis happens.

Expression of sorrow is catharsis. All the emotions that the body has repressed, if they start flowing again, it leads to health.

So crying is actually a GOOD thing.
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Through pain and tears, strength and life appear...and nothing heals like the graceful expression of sorrow...

K.D. Lang peforms "Crying", originally by Roy Orbison. Beautiful performance by a saintly presence...

Beautiful performance by a saintly presence...

Synchronicity - (My Poetry)

2009-03-28T14:46:00.003+05:30

An old poem of mine. It's on a girl, not a river...

"Synchronicity"

She is poetry in motion
a walking symphony
a graceful naiad
an elegant meander
in a sparkling river

She is
curvaceous elegance
a gentle whisper
a delicate accent
a magical whirl
in a delightful breeze

She is synchronicity
a mysterious deja vu
a cosmic sruti
a transcendental wiggle
(that leaves you begging!)

She is
mesmerising presence
her sorcery
a natural emanation

Amazing that
exquisite beauty
walks this earth.

© Vikram Madan.

Formless part - III

2008-11-16T14:53:00.008+05:30

[Formless part -III]

Nascent Life

Seeing is happening
Hearing is happening
There is no seer
No hearer...

Observerless seeing of the seen
Observerless hearing of the sound
Shunya pervades..

Feeling is happening
Joy is happening

Nascent life is happening
Innocence is happening

Bubbling spontaneously
Bubbling eternally.

Birth

The living principle
Defines borders...
Takes form...

And

The microcosm of the infinitely deep awakens.

The beast awakens.
Gentle, noble beast.

The universe awakens.
For the infiniteth time.

© 2008 Vikram Madan

Starchild image from the movie 'A Space Odyssey'.

The Journey

2008-11-10T16:32:00.015+05:30

This is a repost of an old blog entry...
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I wrote this poem a few months back. It's title is 'The Journey'.

Become comfortable
in not knowing
and continue seeking...

you are dark
so is your path;

But the light at the end of your tunnel
is you

it is marked;

At the end
the giant mirror unfolds
and you meet yourself;

Ego waxes
ego wanes
nothing's lost
nothing's gained
and in the end
nothing remains;

You are
just a dreamer
a void in the grip of a lie
obsessed with a conceptual 'I';

You are
hollow without a core
filled with darkness and gore;

But
your true nature shines brighter than gold
so lighten up, let the light in
learn to swim
and you will meet yourself at the distant shore...

© 2006 Vikram Madan.

Before I start the explanation, I request the reader to ASSUME, for the sake of this discussion, that re-incarnation is real. That eternal life is real. Assuming this is VERY important. If the reader is not convinced about the usefulness of building an argument based on assumptions, he is advised to read the End Note of this blog-post, before reading further.

(Discussion on why I feel multiple lifetimes and re-incarnation are real will be covered by me in one of my forthcoming posts on 'Eternal Life'. I, however, will offer no proof of re-incarnation, or eternal life, only logic.)
_____________________________
Now let us move forward, on the assumption we have made.

The reader is advised to pause and reflect, after each paragraph.

Become comfortable in not knowing...
This poem is about acceptance of life as it is, without complaints, or bitterness, or sorrow. A state of total acceptance of the past, the present, and freedom from anxiety about the future. I mean strive towards such a state. I have covered this topic in detail, in my post 'The Mental Lens.'

...and continue seeking...
Once total acceptance of life as it is has set in, one becomes free and the magical beauty and wonder of life starts showing itself. The person can now be called a mystic, that is, a person who lives in a state of awe and wonder, much like a little baby. But this is possible only when one finds complete release from the past, and stops seeing the present through the eyes of the past, or the future. Stops dwelling on the past, stops worrying about the future, and lives in the now.

...the light at the end of your tunnel is you...it is marked...
Over here I am saying that 'self realisation' or 'enlightenment' is a real phenomenon.
I feel everyone is destined for enlightenment and self-realisation. Everyone, but it takes time. Could take many lifetimes.

...at the end...the giant mirror unfolds...
I feel we all face our karma(works/deeds) when death comes...A bad person will meet a bad fate in death (all his sadism will be reversed on him), and a good person will meet a good fate in death. What I mean here is that the person will re-incarnate, and the quality of his next life will depend upon his deeds in this life. A person who is both good and bad, will find a mixed fate in the next life.

...ego waxes, ego vanes...nothing's lost, nothing's gained...and in the end nothing remains...
Over here I am talking about ego and ego-death. I am talking about problems of the human ego. Nothing is lost, nothing is gained in ego wars...apart from temporary and ultimately inconsequential things; (real beauty, joy, peace, companionship, friendship and love - things that ultimately matter, cannot be gained through ego wars of course.)

It is the ego that has created the human realm, the realm of decay, and the illusion of death. In a realm where people do not have 'egos' , there would be no death, and life would be eternal. 'In the end nothing remains' is a reference to 'death of the ego', not death of the person.

Note: When I use the word 'ego' I do not have the Freudian perspective in mind.

When I use the word 'ego', I mean it in a spiritual way. From the spiritual point of view, the ego is an aberration, a flaw. It is a flavour of 'I'ness that is selfish and loveless.

The ego in you has only two modes of existence. An over-inflated sense of self-worth, and a deflated sense of self-worth.

The ego is that part of your 'I'ness that indulges in merciless mind games with others and yourself. That part of you that revels in controlling and being controlled.

...obsessed with a conceptual 'I'...hollow without a core...filled with darkness and gore... ---Statement (A)

Over here I am talking about the ego once again. Just explained the concept. But let us discuss the nature of the ego a little more, this time. What I am saying in statement (A) is that the ego is a mental concept, an imaginary creation of the deluded part of your intellect (refer my post 'Killing the Descartes thinker' for more details).

The ego is violent, self-absorbed, cannot love. Words like ego and megalomania are blood brothers.

...your true nature shines brighter than gold...
Over here I am talking about 'self realisation'(or ego-death) again. I am saying that self-realised humans and people on the verge of self-realisation, are very beautiful people, full of love and compassion for living creatures. This is the 'true nature'. Love and compassion.

"The ultimate truth lies in the realm of feelings, and not in the realm of the intellect..." Eckhart Tolle.

...lighten up, let the light in...
Over here I am saying that a person should develop a sense of humour about life. Most people dwell on bitterness and do not have the ability to forgive, do not have acceptance of life's strange twists and turns. This bitterness & negativity strengthens the ego. Acceptance of life as it is, with minimum complaints, dissolves the ego. Makes the person emotionally healthy.

...and you will meet yourself at the distant shore...
Over here I am talking about self realisation, and subsequent life in a realm where people live forever, happy, young and content.

End Note:
All this discussion is based on the ASSUMPTION that eternal life & re-incarnation are real. Building an argument on assumptions is not invalid. This is 'inductive reasoning'. Inductive reasoning runs on established data yes, but it can run on assumptions also.

Adding Special Effects to Avril Lavigne & Janine Lindemulder

2008-10-12T00:36:00.002+05:30

Two recent photoshops of mine......probably the result of listening to too much Pink Floyd and Goa Raume!

Photoshop = Software for adding special effects and making cosmetic changes to photos.

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I noticed Avril Lavigne after I heard a song in which she plays the drums AND sings, both at the same time!

Very talented girl. And makes sense when she talks, unlike most others her age!

Click to Enlarge

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'Kali's Cosmic Hat'

Janine Lindemulder is a movie actress of german origin.

This photoshop is very representative of Janine's personality which is quite 'Kali-esque'. Kali, the hindu goddess.

Click to Enlarge

Janine's Hat is a formation in Galaxy Cluster MACS J00254.4-1222. Can be found at HubbleSite.ORG

Solitary Walk (Relics Of A Phase Transcended)

2008-07-20T05:00:00.039+05:30

I have many posts on mysticism in the pipeline but none is complete because I am very hard pressed for time these days. A post on mysticism requires effort and time.

So I am posting one of my poems, lest someone assumes I have abandoned this blog!

A poem I wrote an extremely long time back.

"Solitary Walk"

I walk this solitary walk
I talk this solitary talk
to Me, Myself, I, and the walls around me...

Because you are not there
To hear

That

Without you
I am like a child
Raw, naked and tender
To the sweltering summer

I need you woman
I need your shelter...
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Part II

Every few days
She comes back to me
Haunts me
Hurts me
As if in search of eternal revenge

I cry out in the still of the night
I cry out her name

Unable to decide whether it's respite that I seek
Or more pain...

© Vikram Madan
Relics of a phase long transcended.

Most of the heart rending stuff that I wrote - it was during my younger years. But I am still quite fond of it all.

This poem of mine and the other poems that I wrote in these younger years remind me of a George Michael song named 'One More Try'.

This song is a wonderful expression of the confusion, the inner battle a person goes through when one tends to get attached...

George Michael's "One More Try"

Tragic that something as wonderful as the bond between two people can cripple a person, in this world of ours...

Love not reciprocated has the power to destroy.

My belief is that in a perfect world (and such worlds do exist - if you ask me) - love always finds wonderful reciprocation.

Why I believe such worlds exist (I like to call them Buddha Worlds) is a long discussion, needs an entire blog entry.

xvolver3@gmail.com

My ArtWork - Preity Zinta (Psychedelia)

2008-06-09T19:17:00.030+05:30

Don't have anything to write as of now, so I'm posting a 6 months old photoshop of mine. Of my favourite Bollywood actress Preity Zinta .

She has charmed millions of Indians with her bubbly personality and sense of humour. Has been given the nickname 'bubbly' by friends.

She has become quite famous overseas too, especially in the middle east. They are crazy about her. As are many Indians.

She loves Advaita Vedanta, and is a fan of Ayn Rand.

Her hometown is Shimla, a beautiful hill station a few hours north from New Delhi.

Intoxicating mixture of beauty and brains.

Here's my artwork, based on the above photograph.

Update:

An interesting video...reminds me of this mood Preity Zinta was in, in an interview of hers I saw on TV.

Madison Avenue sings 'Don't call me baby.'

Formless

2008-04-29T01:46:00.025+05:30

Introduction:

This poem on formless life is not based on any religious texts. It is pure mysticism.

There are many religions/movements out there like advaita (a branch of hinduism), Sufism, Islam, Buddhism, Judiasm etc. (too many to name) that endorse 'formless life' concepts. I am neither for nor against such religions.

It's based on my personal 'feeling realisations'.

'Feeling realisations' is a phrase coined by spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle (a mystic who is not aligned to any religion or path).

Feeling realisations are pointers. To the mysteries of the cosmos...

"FORMLESS"

Part I

My arms are mine
but my arms are not me

My legs are mine
but my legs are not me

My eyes are mine
but my eyes are not me

My body is mine
but my body is not me

I live in my body...
but my body is not me...

I was
I am
I will always be...
FORMLESS

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Part II

Where are you?
In your eyes?
In your hands?
In your arms?
In your legs?
Where do you live, in your body?

If you were not in your hands, your hands would not be alive.
If you were not in your legs, your legs would not be alive.
If you were not in your eyes, your eyes would not be alive.
You are everywhere in your body.

You
the one who sees through your eyes

You are...
FORMLESS

© 2008 Vikram Madan.

Photo from: NASA.GOV.

Surya Namaskaram Part 2

2008-02-27T03:48:00.022+05:30

Surya = Sun;
Namaskaram = Acknowledgement, respect, greeting.

Some hindu women (sometimes) pray naked to appease the gods.

For example, in Nepal, some hindu farmer women work naked in the fields to appease the hindu god INDRA, so that he may bless their fields with rain. They believe he will.

Reports say this is done once a year.*****

Men are required to stay at home and not go to the fields when their wives perform the above mentioned ritual.

*****Am 99% sure it is done once a year, but am crosschecking once again, to make sure. Will update soon.

World Religions at a glance

2008-02-23T14:57:00.006+05:30

I always knew world religions were full of shit! Here's some interesting descriptions. Image (above) from 'Ashram De Swami Petramesh' (Rama Rama Ding Ding).

From the page Katinkaesselink-Shit Happens.

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"SHIT HAPPENS"

TAOISM: Shit happens.

CONFUCIANISM: Confucius say, "Shit happens".

ZEN: (What is the sound of shit happening?)

JESUITISM: If shit happens when nobody is watching, is it really shit?

ISLAM: Shit happens if it is the will of Allah.

COMMUNISM. Equal shit happens to all people.

CATHOLICISM: Shit happens because you are bad.

PSYCHOANALYSIS: Shit happens because of your toilet training.

SCIENTOLOGY: Shit happens if you're on our shit list.

ZOROASTRIANISM: Bad shit happens, and good shit happens.

UNITARIANISM: Maybe shit happens. Let's have coffee and donuts.

RIGHT-WING PROTESTANTISM: Let this shit happen to someone else.

JUDAISM: Why does shit always happen to US?

REFORM JUDAISM: Got any Kaopectate?

MYSTICISM: What weird shit!

AGNOSTICISM: What is this shit?

ATHEISM: I don't believe this shit!

NIHILISM: Who needs this shit?

AZTEC: Cut out this shit!

QUAKER: Let's not fight over this shit.

FORTEANISM: No shit??

12-STEP: I am powerless to cut the shit.

VOODOO: Hey, that shit looks just like you!

NEWAGE: Visualize shit not happening.

DEISM: Shit just happens.

EXISTENTIALISM: Shit doesn't happen; shit is.

SECULAR HUMANISM: Shit evolves.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE: Shit is in your mind.

BUDDHISM: Shit happens, but pay no mind.

SHINTOISM: Shit is everywhere.

HINDUISM: This shit has happened before.

WICCA: Mix this shit together and make it happen!

HASIDISM: Shit never happens the same way twice.

THEOSOPHY: You don't know half of the shit that happens.

DIANETICS: Your mother gave you shit before your were born.

SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST: No shit on Saturdays.

JEHOVAH's WITNESSES: No shit happens until Armageddon.

MOONIES: Only happy shit really happens.

HOPI: Corn fertilizer happens.

BAHA'I: It's all the same shit.

STOICISM: This shit is good for me.

OBJECTIVISM: Our shit is good for you.

EST: If my shit bothers you, that's your fault.

REAGANISM: Don't move; the shit will trickle down.

FASCISM: Shit makes the trains run on time.

CARGO CULT: A barge will come and take all the shit away.

EMACS: Hold down Control-Meta-Shit.

DISCORDIANISM: Some funny shit happened to me today.

RASTAFARIANISM: Let's smoke this shit.

CHARISMATIC: This is not shit and it doesn't smell bad.

MASONIC: Shit happens, but we can't discuss it during Lodge.

RED CROSS: Shit happens - send money.

My Artwork - The Transformation

2008-01-18T22:35:00.003+05:30

The Subject: Sharon Stone.

Tools: Photoshop CS2 and Contort 1.7 (used for re-shaping her eyebrows.)

My ArtWork - Roars Like A Tigress

2008-01-11T01:15:00.007+05:30

Sharon Stone glows in the dark and roars like a fierce tigress....she'd look even more hypnotic if you switched the lights off, or were high. ;-)

Made by me using Photoshop CS2 9.0.

I showed this to a friend of mine, and his reaction:
__________________

ALI: Is that Sharon Stone?
ME: Yes
ALI: Do you hate her so much?
ME: That's Sharon Stone, as seen through a mind high on LSD ;-)
____________

The Cosmic Movie...Death Not Ends It (Topic: DEATH)

2008-01-06T11:14:00.005+05:30

"Seems to me, you lived your life, like a candle in the wind, never knowing who to cling to, when the rain set in..." sang Elton John, first for Marilyn Monroe, then for Princess Diana.

Well...that's the tragedy of human life. People are isolated fragments in a hostile universe. Life is harsh and ultimately kills, they say. But is it LIFE that kills a person...or is it something else? Can LIFE kill a person? If the answer to this question is 'yes', it all becomes a contradiction. Total contradiction. Life then becomes a contradiction. And life cannot be a contradiction.

STUDY THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH CAREFULLY:

Princess Diana is dead but people just do not leave her alone. They are busy restoring her image, killing her image, restoring her image, killing her image. Kill her, restore her...kill her, restore her...Kill her, restore her...Kill me, restore me...Kill me, restore me...Kill me, restore me...death, birth...death, birth...death, birth....the karmic cycle...

If the reader has not understood what I'm saying...here's some interesting lyrics by U2 from the movie 'Batman Forever'....Bono sings...'Hold me...thrill me...kiss me...kill me'. Bono is singing about what humans TRULY want, deep down inside. ALL HUMANS want to be tortured AND KILLED, deep down inside.

This is the ultimate desire for all humans, they just don't know it consciously. And it is because of this death-wish that death exists.

The desire to (kill and) be killed is a subconscious desire, people in general are not in touch with their subconscious desires, they do not know that such desires run around in their subconsious.

Sigmund Freud said that every human has a life and death instinct. He called the life instinct "eros" and called the death instinct "thanatos".

_________________

It is very difficult to imagine the compassionate Princess Diana as someone who had sado-masochistic urges in her emotional world. But it is easy to understand this if one looks at it this way---Some people are deliberate sado-masochists....and some are accidental sado-masochists.

I highly doubt that Princess Diana ever hurt anyone deliberately without any REAL reason. Most of her life was full of tragic accidents. Accidental, unintended sado-masochism. Ended in the ultimate accidental masochism. Her death. Desire fulfilled.

Some quotes on Death that I like:

"In the end, death will die." --- Most probably the Bible, I don't know.

"Each day death strikes, yet we go on living as if we were immortal."

--Peter Brooke's Mahabharata.

__________
"The programme for this evening is not new, you've seen this entertainment through and through....you've seen your birth, your life, your death...you might recall all of the rest...did you have a good world when you died...enough to base a movie on?"

"Death not ends it."

---Jim Morrison (The Doors).
___________

End Note:
My views on Sado-Masochism:

When I use words like 'sado-masochism', I am not referring to some kind of enjoyment. I am referring to hostile feelings (inner or extraneously induced) driving a person into crazy modes of release from pain.

'Heal me with your crime' kind of a thing, like George Michael sings...in 'The Strangest Thing.'

It's a song worth listening to. (Video below.)

"Take my life...time has been twisting the knife...I am frightened for my soul...make love to me, send love through me, heal me with your crime..."

(Not enjoyment, but a desperate urge for freedom from pain, desperate calling out to love. Without love, a painful death is the only answer to pain. Death exists in the human world because of the absence of love.)

PLEASE CLICK ON ARROW ON BOTTOM,LEFT OTHERWISE VIDEO WILL NOT PLAY.

Pain And Its Cousins

2007-12-31T03:58:00.003+05:30

Everybody's life is centred around the pain they feel..The topic of pain is so vast I could talk for hours on it.

Here's a poem of mine:
____________

"In this world...

Beautiful flowers want the rain to stop...

And wounds want more pain...

Beauty wants to feel ugly...

Life wants to die..."

© 2004 Vikram Madan.
_________

Pain transmuting into pleasure is something known to all of us....and it is a dangerous game that pulls a person deeper and deeper, to a level where the person does NOT want the pain to transmute into pleasure. He or she starts wanting PURE pain...along with its cousins...pure terror, pure violence, pure hell.

The person actually starts PRAYING for things like..'ONENESS with pain, fear, torture, endless suffering'.

My blog entry on the (non-existent) 'Devil' talks of this phenomenon briefly...check it out, its interesting.

Plan to write more on PAIN, soon.

Hyperlink: Devil and Hell.

My Ex-Wife!!

2007-12-26T17:49:00.000+05:30

My Artwork (Psychedelia Goddess)

2007-12-22T00:57:00.009+05:30

Artwork entitled "Psychedelia Goddess"

Software used: Photoshop CS2 9.0, Contort 2.0.

More Psychedelia

2007-12-19T13:05:00.004+05:30

Welcome To Reality (My Poetry)

2007-12-18T18:52:00.002+05:30

An old poem of mine, many years old.

"WELCOME TO REALITY"

In this world...

Beautiful flowers want the rain to stop...

And wounds want more pain...

Beauty wants to feel ugly...

And life wants to die.

© 2004 Vikram Madan.

______

Ego Sex to Superconscious Sex

2007-12-13T11:38:00.009+05:30

This blog entry is on a topic that not many are aware of. It is all about ego movements and how two egos can communicate in a manner that is genuine, full of love, and MAY lead to consciousness expansion that helps both egos evolve. i.e. "From ego-sex to superconscious-sex".

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the founder of Naropa university, writes about the necessity of spiritual maturity, ripeness, and surrender in the student, before a teacher can give a consciousness expanding transmission to the student. He talks of not letting morality come in the way of emotions. Surrender means total surrender. The bible says 'Empty thy vessel...'

The purpose of this spiritual transmission is to transmit wakefulness to the student. Increase the student's awareness.

A certain ego dance has to happen before the student and the teacher reach positions in which an explosive spiritual-love transmission happens. A transmission of fierce, powerful, electrically charged, spiritually charged love from the teacher to the totally surrendered student, that not only expands the student's consciousness, but also the teacher's consciousness! The teacher is always desperate to give...the student should be hungry to receive and totally surrendered.

Here are Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's views on this matter. Wonderful stuff. From the book 'Journey without Goal':
_________
ξ
Wherever a student comes from, the student's attitude is very important. To receive transmission, a student should be humble and open but not wretched. Being humble in this case is being like a teacup. If we are pouring a cup of tea, the cup could be said to be humble. The cup has a sense of being in its own place. When we pour tea into a cup, the cup is at a lower level and the pot is at a higher level. This has nothing to do with spiritual trips, higher consciousness, lower consciousness or anything like that. We are talking pragmatically. If we are going to pour tea into a cup, the cup obviously should be lower than the pot. Otherwise we would be unable to pour anything it.

Water obviously has to flow down. It is very simple. Like a humble cup, the student should feel fertile and at the same time open. Because tea is going to be poured into this particular cup. The cup has a sense of open expectation. Why not? We are no longer wretched people who are not upto the level of receiving teaching. We are simply students who want to know, want to learn and receive instructions. Also one cup is not necessarily better or more valuable than another. It could be made out of many things---ordinary clay, porcelain, gold or silver---but it is still a cup as long as it can hold water or tea.

To be a proper cup, we should be free from spiritual materialism, thoroughly ripened and brought to spiritual maturity, so that transmission can take place. Then, in our basic being, we feel the quality of "cupness" ; we feel our whole existence thirsting to receive teaching. We are open to the teachings. That is the first step in transmission: Like the cup, we are on a certain level of experience that is not absolutely wretched or full of holes. We don't feel that we are deprived.

In fact, being a cup is an absolutely powerful thing: there is a sense of pride because our cup has such a strong quality of cupness. The teapot cannot help but fill it with knowledge or teachings. The teacher cannot wait to pour into us. We are seducing the teapot with our cupness: our pride, our self-existence, and our sanity. Two magnetic processes are taking place: the cup is magnetised by the teapot and the tea pot is equally magnetised by the cup. A love affair takes place; a fascination takes place.

Transmission means the extension of spiritual wakefulness from one person to someone else. Wakefulness is extended rather than transferred. The teacher, or the transmitter extends his inspiration rather than giving his experience away to somebody else and becoming an empty balloon. The teacher is generating wakefulness and inspiration constantly, without ever being depleted. So for the student, transmission is like being charged with electricity.

Transmission also requires the dynamic expression of the student's own emotions. As students, our aggression, our lust, and our stupidity are all included. According to vajrayna, everything we can think of, including the emotions, is workable. In fact, transmission cannot take place without emotions because they are part of the food of transmutation. And since they are also energetic and powerful, we do not want to exclude any of them. As long as we separate our philosophy and our concepts of morality from our emotions, there is no problem. This does not mean that we should be completely loose, seemingly free from philosophy, morality, and ethics, but that self-existing take place constantly. To receive transmission it is absolutely necessary to be an ordinary human being: confused, stupid, lustful and angry. Without those emotional qualities, we cannot receive transmission. They are absolutely necessary. I do not think this is a particularly difficult requirement to fulfil. Everybody seems to have a pretty juicy helping of them.

Our emotions are regarded as the wiring or electrical circuit that receives transmission. We could say that we have three wires---one for passion, one for aggression, and one naivete, ignorance or slothfulness. These three form a very busy electrical device that would like to receive transmission. We are hungry for it; we are dying for it. And on the other side, there is the electrical generator, which is somewhat smug, knowing that it is ready to transmit at any time.
ξ
Labels: Tantric sex, tantra, mystical sex.

Human Selfishness & World Hunger

2007-12-01T20:06:00.010+05:30

Akio Morita, one of the founders of Sony Corporation, writes briefly about world hunger in his book 'Made in Japan'.

He says that way back in the 1980s, he saw a genetically engineered plant that could produce thousands of tomatoes from ONE PLANT.

Then he wonders...WHERE is this technology? WHY is it not being used? WHY has it been hidden from the world?

Here is Akio Morita's brief biography, from the SONY USA website: SONY USA, AKIO MORITA.

World politicians keep talking about ending world hunger...but secretly they crush and suppress EVERY technology that can end world hunger.

Technology that can end world hunger VERY much exists, in my opinion. If scientists have made genetically modified plants than can produce thousands of tomatoes from one life cycle, it means they can do it with many many other foods and crops too.

But they don't want to share it with the world.

Because it is....'bad for business'.

All world problems are due to a quality that most humans have. Its called Brutal Selfishness.

George Michael, in his song 'Praying For Time' sings....'charity is a coat you wear, twice a year....'

Here is the video of 'Praying For Time'. Pay careful attention to the lyrics.

Status Of Women In Islam

2007-11-26T07:43:00.004+05:30

Status of women in Islamic societies/setups comes across as very misunderstood to me.

I know many muslim families, and in all of them the women are treated exactly as you would treat women of your family, although they stay covered in the Burkah (Islamic veil).

The islamic veil is a cultural thing...Their life, their wish....who are you to tell them what's good for them?

The veil is NOT mandatory in ALL muslim socities. So many muslim socities have made it OPTIONAL.

Anyone who believes that Islam is more oppressive than other religions/socities should realise that he or she is taking MEDIA hype too seriously.

The media always swings the focus as per vested interests.

Before I conclude this blog entry....here is a beautiful muslimah who is fast emerging as the voice of sanity in the muslim world. Her name is NADINE AL ROSSI. A media person who is also a movie star.

She is of Turkish descent. And an emerging voice of sanity in the muslim world who wants to fight against the wrong image the world media has built around Islam.

Al Rossi's words on Islam and Western Societies:

"We are happy as we are. The western media should stop saying we are badly off and focus on other world problems too...muslim societies are not the only societies in trouble, in this world.

Injustice, crimes against women exist in all societies, including affluent North American societies. Name one western affluent and 'civilised' society that does not rape its women, screw up its children's minds through junk television programming, junk food, and violent video games?

A startling number of western children are obese, lazy, counter-productive. Reminiscent of the falling Roman empire.

The status of these western children is "Nero fiddles while Rome burns".

And just look at their deplorable social structures.

The divorce rate in the western world is as high as 80%. That is, 80% of their marriages fail.

They live alone, aloof, isolated from each other. The western woman continuously complains against the western man, calling him oppressive and controlling, maniacal.

Horror stories of mistreatment of women in western societies are all over the internet.

Name one social evil that the affluent western 'civilised' world does not suffer from. They have it all, don't they?!

Fierce lady...fierce and drop dead gorgeous...

Al Rossi says every society has its evils, sorrows, fears, madness, loneliness...violence. No one is free, no matter how affluent they are.

Details of her broadcasts can be found on the Turkish National TV website.

Here is an interesting take on the situation. Complete with verses from the Koran that will prove to the reader that the Koran is NOT as bad as it is projected to be, by the media.

Link: STATUS OF WOMEN IN ISLAM

Male Behaviour Part - I

2007-11-19T02:23:00.007+05:30

A few months back I wrote a blog entry 'In defence of George Michael', and since then I have received 4 emails from males asking me if I am bisexual.

I cannot understand WHY defending George Michael means that I have sexual feelings for him! What kind of a fucked up mind movement is that?!

I have been listening to his music for 15 years now, and not once did I get the urge to fantasise about him. If this sounds bizarre, you need a shrink!

Like one fellow wrote to me: "I admit I got turned on when I saw how 'passionately' you defended george michael...."

My response to him was: "o_O. CAN'T YOU FUCKING SEE THAT I HAVE SAID OVER AND OVER AGAIN THAT I AM NOT GAY, IN THAT BLOG ENTRY??!! ARE YOU FUCKING BLIND???! OR JUST INSANE??!!"

I am very irritated by the above mentioned emails, so here is a clear, direct statement.

"I AM NOT BI-SEXUAL. I AM A PURE HETEROSEXUAL."

The senders of these emails ---- It is YOUR bisexual mind that assumes that I am bisexual because I am defending a gay/male singer.

For some people just mere statements are not enough, because their minds are twisted. They need a firm warning. They need a *threat*, only then they'll back away, because of their street dog mentality. The street dog needs a threat, otherwise it keeps attacking.

So...

If anyone sends me email asking me whether I am bisexual after reading this blog entry, their email address will be sent to spam lists all over the internet. You will be bombarded with about 200 emails every 30 minutes and many of those emails will have viruses attached to them.

(Of course, female readers of this blog can ask me anything, anytime, no problem at all! This is not a threat to them, heaven should burn and hell should devour me, if I even dreamed of threatening the female readers of my blog!! :-P :-D This threat is directed only at bi-sexual male readers who might want to send me 'proposals'.)

On the lighter side, here is a light-hearted conversation I had just recently, with a girl I know, on this issue, and she was pulling my leg, asking me whether I am gay.

______________________

ME: This might be slightly difficult to believe...but...many men, when they see a tough woman...they want it up their ass from her, apart from other things. This is a very strong desire in many men.

FEMALE FRIEND: Yes, true. Just talked to someone about it the other day.

ME: I have respect for women who have the courage to give it to a man up his ass! The only difference is, NOT my ass!

FEMALE FRIEND: heh heh, you'd love it too. You know you want it. Fess up! heh.

ME: I've got a spiritual butt plug. Impenetrable. Not a part of my karma to take it up the ass. It's like I've got a one way spiritual-mechanical valve in my ass...stuff can come out, but nothing can go in.

FEMALE FRIEND: ha ha.
__________________________

Equations of pain (My Poetry)

2007-11-18T21:39:00.002+05:30

A poem I wrote a few years back:

Addictive clinging

Equations of pain;

My nemesis is to remain

Forever entrenched in misery

Burning in a hellish eternal flame...

© 2003 Vikram Madan.

If You're Punjabi...

2007-11-17T01:02:00.001+05:30

This is yet another deviation from the theme of this blog.

I am a Punjabi by origin. My roots are Afghan (Afghanistan), Pakistani-Punjabi and Indian Punjabi.

If you are familiar with Punjabi culture, you might find this video interesting.

Eye Candy from India, Part - 2 (Indian Sadhus)

2007-11-16T07:43:00.002+05:30

Indian Sadhus....

Please wait while the flash loads...

The images are from the book "Culturas Tradicionales•Hinduismo•Sadhus", photographs © Thomas Kelly. His work can be found at www.asianart.com.

Goodbye My Friend (My Poetry)

2007-11-13T06:27:00.004+05:30

A poem written by me many many years back.

"Goodbye My Friend"

She does not get unnerved by lecherous eyes
She may look back, she may not look back
If she looks back
She gives looks that could decimate
Crush even the devil's ego.

Never bows, never surrenders
Eternal warrior
She is.

A fearless warrior
Who does not suppress anger

An open heart that expresses its pain
Its sorrow
Without fear
Without tears

Because she knows
That the expression of sorrow heals as it flows...

© Vikram Madan.
_____________________

This poem of mine always reminds me of a two songs I love.......'Angie' by The Rolling Stones, a song sung in 1973.

And......'Soldier of Fortune' by Deep Purple...

The song in the video below is original...the footage isn't but its nice.

Slash performing "The Godfather" theme. (Expression of Sorrow)

2007-11-11T05:09:00.003+05:30

I find all variations of the 'The Godfather' theme to be a great expression of sorrow.

Love all versions. Slash seems to go out of tune for a few seconds (he's stoned I guess!) but recovers soon. Love the dude!

The secret of survival if you ask me... is learning how to generate POWER in a state of sorrow, learning how to generate strength in a condition of weakness.

Death Part 1 (My Poetry)

2007-11-07T08:36:00.000+05:30

(This is my first post, on a series on 'Death.' )

The following is a poem I wrote, when I was going through a bad phase, a few years back.

It is based on the 'The Doors' song, 'The End'.

This is the end
My only friend, the end;
Can you picture what will be
in a world beyond we see;

Will I be
desperately in need
of a stranger's hand, in a strange land...

My friend, will you be there for me?
When I set off on the journey;

But
What if this act of madness is in vain?
What if death does not kill the pain?

What if my nemesis is to remain
forever entrenched in misery
burning in a hellish eternal flame...

Goddess In the Making (My Artwork)

2007-11-06T09:11:00.004+05:30

Caprice Bourret represented as a goddess in the making by me, using Photoshop CS2 9.02. (See Artwork above.)

In the graphic...her Manipura Chakra (Navel Chakra) is fully open. The Navel Chakra represents energy and dynamism. People who have endless amounts of energy have active Navel Chakras.

Her Vishudda Chakra (Throat Chakra) represents wisdom and powerful speech. In the graphic, her Throat Chakra is not fully open. Half-open Chakras do not mean the person has wisdom...in fact, a person who thinks/knows that his or her Chakras are open or opening tends to slip into psychosis, mania, violent mood swings, and delusions of grandeur.

The light at Caprice's Throat Chakra is dimmer than the light at her Manipura Navel Chakra. Represents that she is still evolving.

Her Ajna Chakra (slightly above her eyebrows) represents intelligence and analysis abilities. This forehead Chakra is dimmer than the other two (Throat and Navel) Chakras.

A slightly open forehead Chakra may delude the mind into thinking that it is better than the rest. The mind is expanding, adapting, and may slip into delusion in the process.

As time passes, the lights in these three Chakras will wax and wane. Chakra openings are never by the book.

Most people report that Chakra openings are always accompanied by psychosis, delusions of grandeur, wanting to save the world, 'chosen one' fantasies.

Chakra openings are also often accompanied by fearful hallucinations.

Sometimes the person who's Chakras are opening is not aware that his or her Chakras are opening.

The opening Chakras can turn the person into a 'Higher, Stronger Ego'...an ego collapse follows after which some stability comes.

Strong waxing and waning of the ego may happen many times before any real stability comes, but it definitely comes. The peace that passeth all understanding.
_________

Sexual energy flows upward into Caprice Bourret's navel, throat and mind..."Goddess in the Making."

The Real Buddha

2007-11-04T00:21:00.003+05:30

The above is TOOMAS ALTNURME's "Female Buddha". (Looks quite hot if you ask me! I plan to make my own versions of Female Buddhas out of Caprice Bourret and Angie Everhart...will post them on this blog when I am done.)

"The Buddha adapts to everything"...wrote Dr. Fritjof Capra Ph.D, a very close associate of Werner Heisenberg, in his cult book "The Tao Of Physics", a book on the close relationship between modern physics and ancient eastern mysticism.

I'd agree totally. The REAL Buddha is not a static entity. The REAL Buddha is a dynamic, ever expanding, ever evolving, powerful entity who does not bow to anything. The REAL Buddha adapts to everything. All torments, all suffering, all sorrow. The REAL Buddha does not lose his or her peace, calm, balance. It is impossible to destroy the real Buddha. If the real Buddha goes down, he or she bounces up as soon as possible.

Because the REAL Buddha's true nature is evolution, strength, expansion, growth, peaceful co-existence with the cosmos.

If the illusion of hell is built around the REAL Buddha, he or she will cope. Will make a home in the hellish illusion, and rise up from there. Back to where he or she belongs. In the realm of reality, in the realm of bliss.

The evolving Buddha's trajectory is often called the 'Evolving Spiral'. An iterative process.

Evolution out of chaos and delusion may confuse the evolving Buddha at times, may seem circular and destructive at times, but close scrutiny will reveal an upwardly evolving spiral.

The Observer Effect (Quantum Mechanics and Mysticism)

2007-11-03T06:17:00.007+05:30

I am familiar with the 'Observer Effect' phenomenon, having studied Quantum Physics in one semester, but am now studying it in greater detail. Am studying it from the mystical point of view now.

It is not just Quantum Physicists who say what is expressed in the following writeup.

Descartes is a person who might have had ideas that are in tune with the "Observer Effect". (Need to confirm this.)

Will make another blog entry on this subject soon.

The following (quoted text) is written by Alex Paterson, and is from the page OBSERVER EFFECT.

___________________________________

THE OBSERVER EFFECT
Fundamental to contemporary Quantum Theory is the notion that there is no phenomenon until it is observed. This effect is known as the 'Observer Effect'.

The implications of the 'Observer Effect' are profound because, if true, it means that before anything can manifest in the physical universe it must first be observed. Presumably observation cannot occur without the pre-existence of some sort of consciousness to do the observing. The Observer Effect clearly implies that the physical Universe is the direct result of 'consciousness'.

This notion has a striking resemblance to perennial esoteric theory which asserts that all phenomena are the result of the consciousness of a single overlighting Creative Principle or the Mind of God.

There is a delicious irony in all this. Contemporary Western scientific theory postulates that human consciousness is solely a result of the workings of a physical brain, yet if the observer effect is correct, the physical matter comprising a brain cannot come into existence until it is the subject of observation by some pre-existing consciousness.

NOTE: For an excellent introduction to Quantum Physics in laymen's terms see:

1. 'A World with a View' by Ross Rhodes.

2. 'A Cybernetic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics' by Ross Rhodes.

FOOTNOTES:

1. The still-dominant "Copenhagen interpretation" of Quantum Theory developed by Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, and others says two basic things:

a.) Reality is identical with the totality of observed phenomena (which means reality does not exist in the absence of observation), and

b.) Quantum mechanics is a complete description of reality; no deeper understanding is possible.

In effect, this says that observable phenomena are the whole of reality; and any speculation about a deeper underlying reality is meaningless. Bohr stated it unequivocally: "There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum description" (in Herbert 1985, 17).

(SOURCE: David Bohm by Will Keepin.)

Copyright © Alex Paterson 1999

_____________________________________

Furthur Reading:

"Reality Versus Imagination" by Advaita Vedanta Scholar Remez Sasson.

___

Surya Namaskaram

2007-11-01T22:02:00.002+05:30

Sun worship (Surya Namaskaram), best performed without clothes...one with the environment, freedom.

She Moves In Mysterious Ways...

2007-11-01T21:30:00.001+05:30

A poem I wrote in college days, admiring coastal Karnataka weather. I love South India, it is way too beautiful...
____

"Mother Nature"

The orange glow of the evening sky,
teases my senses,
seduces me;

The trees dance with the wind,
like the swaying hips of a graceful maiden

I take a walk
and sit outside the 9th block,

And watch
mother nature move in alluring ways,

Sometimes ferocious, sometimes tender,

Fast, furious, fierce, feisty,

I get mesmerised by her beauty,

and wish
that the moment freezes eternally..

____________________

***9th block was the name of my college hostel.

This is the House of Mo Jive!!!!

2007-11-01T19:36:00.000+05:30

This is a deviation from the theme of this blog. Just to save this blog from getting boring!

"Mo Jive" by "Right Said Fred" , singers of the famous song "I'm too sexy."

"Right Said Fred" are long time favourites of mine..

Devil or Satan & his cronies, and their Hell

2007-11-01T01:35:00.004+05:30

An innocent girl stands and watches the ugly looming figure seducing her, trying to woo her...

(The following are Ozzy Osbourne lyrics from the song Mr. Tinkertrain.)

He sings...'Would you like some sweeties lil girl, come a lil closer...I'm going to show you a brand new world tonite...I've got a one way ticket...to take you to the other side....so come and dont feel shy...'

"I've got a palace full of fantasy...Ready made just for you and me...Once you're there I'm gonna take you for a ride...I got a one way ticket...To take you to the other side...I've got a one way ticket, so come along and don't be shy..."

So come along and play my game
You'll never be the same

Close the curtains and turn out the lights
Beneath my wing it's gonna be alright

A little secret just for you and me

I've got the kind of toys you've never seen

Manmade and a bit obscene

Little angel come and sit upon my knee.....
_______________________

The innocent girl succumbs.....and the ride through hell begins....
_______

This story repeats itself everyday in this world. Usually in a psychological sense.

Hell seems to exist in everyday life, everyday relationships and not just in fantasy.

But it's not real.

The Devil is not real either.

What people call "The Devil" is nothing more than an anthropomorphism of emotional pain. Vampires, demons, demonesses etc. are also the same thing. Attribution of human like characteristics to something that is not a person.

Epilogue:

"When I reached hell, I realised there was nothing there. From a distance it is a very seductive horror show, with graceful vampiresses, evil temptresses, powerful demonesses with beautiful-ugly faces, sharp teeth and fantastic figures and blood dripping from their mouths....but when you reach there, you realise there is nothing there."

Illusion of Doership (or Freewill)

2007-10-30T05:38:00.011+05:30

In the meditation for November 27 in A Net of Jewels (1996), Ramesh Balsekar says,

"Breathing goes on by itself while the deluded individual thinks it is he who is breathing. Thoughts come from outside, arising spontaneously through intervals of mental vacuum, and he thinks it is he who is thinking. The thoughts get transformed involuntarily into action, and he thinks it is he who is acting. All the while, he is doing nothing but to misconstrue the actions of the Totality as his own action."
__________________

Ramesh Balsekar is 100 % right. Breathing happens on its own. Body temperature is maintained on its own, you are not doing anything to maintain your body temperature at 98.6 F.

The body heals on its own, no one can FORCE himself to heal.

Sleep comes on its own, no one can FORCE himself to sleep.

Emotions manifest on their own. Moods manifest on their own. A person cant even change his mood if he wants to.

A person can't control his thoughts. A person can't STOP his thoughts no matter how difficult it gets to deal with them.

The Eagles sing "You'd give anything to silence...those voices ringing in your head.." in their song 'Learn to be still.'

Have you, the person, been able to STOP your thoughts even for a minute, over the last few decades? Nope.

A lot of times when one is driving a car...one gets lost in thought...then suddenly pops back into the present moment and realises that the car has taken a wrong turn.

So...who was driving the car? Who was turning the steering wheel? Who braked at red lights, while YOU (the illusory doer) were lost in thought?

In my post 'Kill the Thinker' (currently offline) I have used Chaos Theory to ponder whether the Thinker exists...it appears that thinking happens automatically and spontaneously...that nobody is doing any thinking. The Thinker can exist only if thoughts were being willed...

And it follows that if there is no thinker...THERE IS NO DOER.

But there is indeed someone, and he or she is the Buddha Within, or the silent, peaceful witness of life as it unfolds. This Buddha Within is NOT affected by the human emotions that flow around him or her. The Buddha Within does NOT participate in the dance of human-life, only WATCHES it as it happens...peacefully. He or she is in a state of deep sleep, waking up slowly as time passes.

Coming back to the illusion of doer ship...

The illusion of doer ship is the biggest problem in this world.

The illusion of doer ship leads to song lyrics like the following.

1. "We're prisoners walking through this world all along." -- The Eagles. (Desperado)

2. "To the game we stay a slave." -- Metallica. (Wherever I may roam.)

3. "Welcome my son, welcome to the machine...what did you dream? It's alright we told you what to dream." -- Pink Floyd (Welcome to the machine.)

Summary:

Breathing happens on its own, emotions and moods come and go on their own, thoughts that hurt cannot be stopped, events that hurt cannot be stopped, still the person thinks he or she has control over his or her life. The fact is that the person has no control over the events of his or her life. Life happens to the person, the person is not in control.

The evolving Buddha realises this and accepts everything as it is. And peacefully waits for the point where he or she can rise up and take control of his or her life, become a doer. This point is 'enlightenment'.

My Conclusions:

Nature does not allow doership (freewill) to be given to people with hostile emotions.

Taking over control of one's life is not possible through violence, it cannot be forced. Control comes on its own at enlightenment - i.e. after complete acceptance of life as it is.

The violence that manifests in this world...one could say its just the 'whole' going through a work-in-process phase in which it is cleansing humanity. No one is doing it. It is all happening on its own.

Self Esteem Swings and The Buddha Within

2007-10-20T20:39:00.003+05:30

The state of mind shown in this photo is nothing to be afraid of. Entitled 'Bad Dream' by Lovisa...yet another great photo from her deviantart gallery. The state of mind shown in this photo is exactly that. A bad dream. AN ILLUSION.

Very high self esteem is as unhealthy as a very low self esteem. A person's view of himself/herself should be balanced. Some amount of swinging is ok but it must not be extreme.

An interesting thing is...the swing between high and low self esteem may not be as extreme as it seems....

Because life in this world has reality in it, it also has illusions in it.

We see our world through a VERY heavy Mental Lens.

This lens is right in front of our eyes, always has been; And will reveal itself, if we use common sense. And develop our powers of observation.

Sorrow

2007-10-13T18:56:00.002+05:30

This photo reminds me of a poem I wrote, in my younger years.

SORROW

Something in me dies
As I see you sit there
Trying to suppress tears
Lost in silent despair...

What are you?

Victimised purity?
A crazy mystery?

Or just a hollow façade
Trying to entrench an identity?

Worry (If You Worry, Will Life Spare You?)

2007-10-07T02:17:00.002+05:30

The following is based on a letter I sent to this friend of mine about a year back...a 23 year old girl who was about to face the ultimate challenge in life....living on the street....I wanted to send her some money, but she was saying no....I was in a quandary...

Thankfully, she ran into her 'knight in shining armour' around the same time...an ex-boyfriend who came back to her, rescued her from street life...she wanted him back anyway....

I've modified the letter a bit, and added some song lyrics that I love....

Dear XYZ,

I understand how serious your problems are.....living on the street is no easy task....but if it happens(I hope it doesn't), you just have to go through it, I guess. Everything in life comes and goes, including bad, rough parts of life. The bad parts also come to an end, although sometimes one feels that the bad parts will never end. But they end. Always.

And one always always comes out of the bad parts as a better, stronger person. 'This too shall pass'. No bad situation lasts forever, though when its happening, it feels like its not going to end ever....but that is totally wrong.

I have faced many tough problems in my life, but I have not faced the problems that you are facing...I'm not exactly rich or something, I too have to fight to pay the rent, but I have never been homeless. I am far from broke, I am well-off, but life does get tough some times, financially. So I understand what money problems are, and the madness they can generate in a person.

Its not easy to stand back and see the problems you are facing without getting emotional.

But is worry going to help in any way? Is worry going to create the money required to pay the rent? So why worry? Is worry going to make sure your brother does not get fired from his job? Is worry going to make sure your brother does not use your money to support his bad habits?

There is a difference between worrying about the future and planning out the future. I am not trying to trivialise your problem, I know how serious it is, but...its like, you've got to power-lift 400 lb in the future, and you have not done it before. Can worrying about the fact that you have never lifted 400 lb going to help you lift 400 lb? You either worry about lifting it, or you plan out how you're going to lift it and then go ahead and lift it.

So just lift it. Just goddamn lift it, and not worry about lifting it. Worry has no place in life, it is a waste of priceless energy. Everyone has limited energy, why waste it on worry?

Do not have mercy on life. Fuck everything, fuck everyone, rise up and just DO IT! Without worrying. There is NO TIME TO SPARE, for worry. Life does not spare people who worry too much, does it? If you worry, will life spare you?

If you worry about the problems you have to face tomorrow, will you be able to sleep? And if you don't sleep, will you be able to deal with tomorrow's problems properly? Isn't it going to make life tougher? So why worry? What use is it? In fact, why WORRY about any problem at all, tomorrow's, or next week's? Does it help, does it solve anything?

There is no 'how' involved in giving up worry. All you have to do is stop worrying. Like Eckhart Tolle says...'How do you drop a hot piece of charcoal that is hurting your hand?.......You just drop it. No HOW involved. Period.'

In case you have to live on the street, why worry?....Will worrying about it help you deal with problems of the street? Will getting emotional about it help? If you worry, get emotional, will the problems vanish? If you worry, will life on the street get easier?

Life on the street has to be approached like a warrior would approach it. Silently, with full awareness of what is going on....emotionless...clinical...and sometimes brutal...NO MERCY.

People develop respect for people who have a brutal demeanour. This is VERY VERY important. A brutal demeanour. A bitch, if I may use the word. I come across as a totally merciless bastard to some people. It is necessary. Keeps the wolves at bay.

A brutal warrior like attitude can manifest along with a compassionate attitude. This is not a contradiction. You can be compassionate and brutal both. If you do not understand these statements, it does not matter....just watch your mind-body's reactions to them, as they pass across your eyes. Watch these statements, watch your reactions to them, that is all that is required.

Coming back to worry and feelings of weakness and the 'I just can't handle life anymore' feeling...

Just WATCH such hostile feelings silently, as they pass through your mind-body. Just watch. That's all. You'll realise the meaning behind what I am saying, if you do what I'm saying...i.e....WATCH all such negative feelings peacefully, without feeling afraid of them.

Watching hostile feelings peacefully, without giving in, weakens their hold on you. They start dissolving. The more peaceful you become, when hostile feelings grip you, the stronger you become.

You might wonder HOW hostile feelings can weaken, if one watches them. The answer is...'Evil cannot bear presence, evil cannot survive the light of awareness'. This statement, made by many many mystics, has great depth, great wisdom. Your hostile feelings are evil that cannot stand being exposed to the light of your awareness. Evil hates being discovered, watched.

Some word the abovementioned wisdom as...'Real evil always runs in the shadows, attacks from the shadows...it is afraid of the light.'

Hostile feelings within a human are real evil. When observed peacefully, they lose energy and strength.

Hindus talk of the goddess overcoming her inner demons. These inner demons are hostile feelings that the goddess directs at herself. (She eventually overcomes inner demons...and whacks a bunch of assholes in the outer world before she finds her peace, but 'outer demons' are out of scope of this blog entry!)

If someone says the Goddess destroys inner demons through violence...it is incorrect. The real story is that she destroys inner demons through acceptance of their existence, and peaceful WATCHING of these violent demonic emotions as they rise in her.

All mystical schools say the same thing. Hostile feelings, if observed as they rise in the mind-body, if observed without giving in, if observed peacefully..will lose their strength.
____________

Led Zeppelin sings the following, about life in this world...very very wise words...'Crying won't help you, crying will do you no good.'

Eckhart Tolle grew up on the street. There was a phase in his life when he had nothing. No home, no money, no security.

He'll say the same thing....'DO NOT CRY IN FRONT OF SOMEONE ELSE...MOST OF THEM ARE SADISTS.'

Eckhart Tolle has a very simple solution on how to deal with situations and people that make you angry, helpless, make you feel like you are going to lose your balance....and what to do IN THAT MOMENT when you are angry and about to lose control. This solution is not different from what I have written before.
Solution:

Hold your anger, the unstable feelings, the violence, the crushed feelings, the manifesting trauma....hold all these hostile feelings in your mental space...and...pause...just pause....that's all....

If you manage to PAUSE just when you are extremely angry and frustrated.....then...in just a few minutes, the anger will clear up on its own, provided you do not give in to any mental-movies...i.e. "that bastard, I'll do this to him, I'll do that to her, and that will happen, then that will happen, I will kill all these bastards..."

If you give in to mental movies, the anger and the frustration will re-inforce itself. The only solution is to watch the mental movies peacefully. Without fear.

You asked me about pranayam. I started pranayam recently, so I don't know the effects as yet. But it makes sense. Deep breathing provides more oxygen to the brain and relaxes the mind in the process.

Eckhart Tolle once said.....'most human problems can be attributed, in a way that cannot be understood, to the statement...'they don't breathe properly...'

Pranayam is about deep, systematic breathing. It fills the brain with oxygen, and stimulates it, and many many people are saying they managed to overcome depression, anger, stress and anxiety, through daily pranayam. Tolle talks of the importance of proper breathing, though he does not use the word pranayam.

I recommend you start prayanam immediately. There is no need to bother about techniques....just take time out to breathe deeply, and do it especially when the anxiety gets too much. Find a way to remind yourself to remember to breathe deeply when the paranoia gets the better of you.

Take care,
Your friend,
Vikram

Mysteria...Ooga! Booga!

2007-10-05T02:18:00.002+05:30

This was made by me using Magic Morph-Flash version 7.5b. Leave a comment in case it doesn't give you a headache!

The Illusion Of Suffering Part 4

2007-09-30T21:18:00.011+05:30

Many people end up telling themselves 'It's all over. The story of my life is beyond repair.'

The thing is...the 'story' follows emotions. Human life is like a movie that nobody is making and nobody is directing. It's like a mirror that continuously shows the state of emotions that influence the 'story'. If the emotions change, the stories will change too. There is no logic, continuity, depth in human stories. All they do is reflect emotions.

What you think your life story is, is not true vision.

"Vision already holds a replacement for everything you think you see now." ACIM Lesson 023.

Reactions in the mind-body should be observed as these statements are read. An unseen layer of tension and resistance may be seen as this blog entry is read.
___________

Real comfort can come from nowhere except from deep within.

And it is ever present.

The 'Buddha within.' is always at peace. The deep, calm, serious, peaceful person who is reading these words...

The Buddha within is your default state. Always was.

'Buddha in the Veins'.

'Buddha in My Blood'.

Dust In The Wind

2007-09-29T00:00:00.007+05:30

Kansas sings 'All we are is dust in the wind'....

We are not even dust in the wind actually.

Some facts about our existence.

1. We live for 80-90 years, the universe is approximately 13 billion years old.

2. We are inconsequential on the cosmic scale. Take a look at the following animation, made by using images from rense.com.

The Sun's diameter is 109 times that of the earth....i.e. its volume is 109*109*109=1.3 million times the volume of the earth.

You need 1.3 million earths to fill up the volume of the Sun!

The above graphic shows that the Sun is invisible on a scale on which Antares (photo 5) is a supergiant. Antares' diameter is 700 times the diameter of the Sun...i.e. its volume is 700*700*700=343 million times that of the Sun.

i.e. You need 343 million Suns to fill up the volume of Antares!

Let us look at some more facts.

A star named "VY Canis Majoris" has the largest diameter out of all known stars, 1800 to 2100 times that of the Sun.

i.e. You need 9.3 billion Suns to fill up VY Canis Majoris!

Let us look at some other facts.

A star named "LBV 1806-20" , located approx. 40,000 light-years from the Sun, is 38 million times brighter than the Sun.

i.e. you need to put together 38 million Suns to get the brightness of one LBV 1806-20!

If the Sun is as bright as a 1 watt bulb........LBV 1806-20 is as bright as a 38 million watt bulb!

Despite its phenomenal brilliance , LBV 1806-20 is virtually invisible from the solar system. Its distance from us is so huge that its light gets obscured on the way.

The distances within our galaxy are so huge that even a star that shines brighter than 38 million Suns is invisible to us!

Antares, VY Canis Majoris and LBV 1806-20 are just three stars.

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has 400 billion stars...

And the Milky Way is just ONE tiny galaxy among more than 130 billion galaxies in the known universe.

Total number of stars in the universe is estimated to be: 50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. (50,000 billion billion).

Kansas rightly sings...'All we are is dust in the wind'......but isn't our pride beyond imagination?

So the questions are........

Where do we stand? What is our importance, if any, keeping in mind the frightening scales of distance and time, in the cosmos?

Kansas sings:

"Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind,
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky..."

(Sarah Brightman singing 'Dust in the Wind' and 'Who Wants to live Forever'.)

Amazing Beauty

2007-09-28T18:37:00.002+05:30

I don't know who this is, found this photo while browsing the internet...amazing beauty. If life can create such beauty, the best that life has to offer must be beyond human imagination.

If life has the ability to create such beauty, I am sure that life has the ability to nourish and sustain it forever, in a comfortable manner.

Reminds me of a poem by Lord Byron...

She walks in beauty
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

The Illusion Of Suffering Part 3 (Thich Quang Duc)

2007-09-28T09:14:00.003+05:30

On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in Saigon as a protest against repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime. Buddhist monks asked the regime to lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag, to grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism, to stop detaining Buddhists and to give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion.

While burning, the monk Thich Quang Duc showed no signs of discomfort, pain or fear. He was at peace. It is said he was not intoxicated at the time.

Assuming that this incident happened exactly as is reported...it points to something.

It points to the illusion of suffering. (In my view.)

So the question arises...HOW he could self immolate without feeling pain and discomfort and fear.

The answer could be that he had seen through the illusion of pain, fear, suffering and all such emotions. He had realised that such emotions cannot be real. He had realised that life cannot slip to a level that it creates such emotions for itself.

Life in its pure form cannot put itself in pain and fear. Such activities are anti life, and life cannot be anti life.

So what is the proof that this HYPOTHESIS (that pain and suffering are an illusion) is correct?

There can be no proof as such. Only pointers.

Many spiritual teachers say we humans are going through the 'dream of suffering'. Plenty of them say it. Not just one or two.

Our experience with sleep proves that only when the dream is over does one realise that it was all a dream, and never happened. We were just THINKING that it was happening. (If we think something is happening, it does not mean it is happening, of course.)

This...to me...is a very strong pointer.

But the strongest pointer is that mystics have been talking about the 'dream of suffering' for thousands of years.
___________________

The fleeting nature of this life and its perception is quite self evident. Memories of what happened just 10 minutes back are no different from the memories of what happened 10 years back.

What happened 10 minutes back may appear to be more real than what happened 10 years back....but is it?

The answer to this question does not come that easily. But it is worth considering, from time to time. Just the mere consideration of this question, and WATCHING mental-emotional reactions as this question is considered is a good way of seeing how one's perspective towards this question evolves.

As one's perspective towards this question evolves, a certain amount of detachment from life and its events will occur. Which is a good thing.

The Face Of Sanity

2007-09-27T09:01:00.001+05:30

Sanity exists, in this world...!!

Control Freaks and Love

2007-09-26T06:56:00.002+05:30

This post is just hypothesis, a flight of fancy. It is important to WATCH mental-emotional reactions that appear as this post is read, nothing more. No conclusions need to be drawn on how the blog owner looks at life and people!

In engineering, there is a term called 'degrees of freedom'. It refers to movement---lack of it, or ability for it, in a mechanism or machine part.

All engineering is about limiting and controlling the 'degrees of freedom' in a machine (or mechanism), so that it works in whatever way the designer wants it to work.

So a machine is nothing more than a set of components that control each other, communicate with each other in a strict manner, and move in set, predictable patterns.

So what are people who enjoy limiting the 'degrees of freedom' in other humans?

The graphic below, of a machine like skull and bones, has 'meat meter' written on its forehead. This is a very accurate representation of such people, because such people are just 'meat meters' who meter and barter human meat on a daily basis.

Such people can't be called alive, because they do not treat other people like they were alive.

They are machines because they want to control, restrict, and want others to be like them---move in set, predictable patterns that THEY wish to see. Such humans are nothing more than the 'Central Processing Unit' that controls and runs a computer.

Such people (machines pretending to be humans) treat even their own children like they would treat a machine. Control, restrict, bend, crush.

Machines in human form have robotic emotions. If one watches such people carefully, one will realise that one is talking to some kind of a machine...the proof will evidence itself in terms of the more or less predictable and C-grade emotional reactions in such people....and a total lack of mercy. Only pretense of mercy. Machines in human form just 'operate', optimise the flow of human meat through their systems. That's all.

No one who is sane will admire and respect a control freak who's passion in life is to take away other people's freedom and restrict them in some way. Restricting or wanting to restrict another human even in ONE way means that you have a 'machine' controlling your head.

So there is no such thing as 'conditional love'. It has to be unconditional. Machines put conditions on their environment, not life.

A person who is a control freak is not a free person. A control freak responds to control. A person who wants to control also wants to be controlled, although it may not be obvious. It is not human, it is just a machine. Binary machine. The binary states being 'Control me' and 'I want to control you'. These are signs of machineness. Nothing else.

Attributes of a machine walking around in human form:

1. Stresses too much on discipline and protocols and procedures.

2. Wants to control, restrict, bend, optimise, barter.

3. Wants to spy on you because it wants all the information possible on you, so that it can control you.

A great song by Pink Floyd....named 'Welcome to the machine' has the following lyrics.

'Welcome my son, welcome to the machine....
Where have you been?
Its alright we know where you've been.
What did you dream?
Its alright we told you what to dream.'

The Illusion Of Suffering part 2 (Learn To Be Still)

2007-09-25T19:39:00.000+05:30

This is part 2 of my blog entry 'The Illusion Of Suffering'.

The lyrics of this song 'Learn To Be Still' by 'The Eagles' run very deep..they talk of the need to be STILL and WATCH what is going on in one's life, in one's mind...in the world in general.

Being STILL and WATCHING is all that needs to be done. From a certain point of view, it is not incorrect to say that stillness and awareness grow on their own, without anyone doing anything. (See my blog entry 'The Dance Of Life'.)

Evolution is a process that happens on its own. But one must be aware of the value and the healing that stillness and watching provide.

___

'Learn To Be Still' lyrics:

It's just another day in paradise
As you stumble to your bed
You'd give anything to silence
Those voices ringing in your head
You thought you could find happiness
Just over that green hill
You thought you would be satisfied
But you never will-
Learn to be still

We are like sheep without a shepherd
We don't know how to be alone
So we wander 'round this desert
And wind up following the wrong gods home
But the flock cries out for another
And they keep answering that bell
And one more starry-eyed messiah
Meets a violent farewell-
Learn to be still
Learn to be still

Now the flowers in your garden
They don't smell so sweet
Maybe you've forgotten
The heaven lying at your feet

There are so many contradictions
In all these messages we send
(We keep asking)
How do I get out of here?
Where do I fit in?

Though the world is torn and shaken
Even if your heart is breakin'
It's waiting for you to awaken
And someday you will-
Learn to be still
Learn to be still

You just keep on runnin'
Keep on runnin'
___

They sing 'Its just another day in paradise'....then they sing 'maybe you've forgotten the heaven lying at your feet'.

They seem to be saying that life is already perfect, that life never went wrong at all. That all suffering is an illusion.

There are so many contradictions
In all these messages we send
(We keep asking)
How do I get out of here?
Where do I fit in?

Though the world is torn and shaken
Even if your heart is breakin'
It's waiting for you to awaken...

And someday you will...

(Just) learn to be still...

Over here they are saying that thinking about the deep, painful questions of life is of no use. The mind does not have the ability to answer such questions.

The essence of the song is...'Learn to be Still'. Through stillness and calm watching of what is going on, awareness of life will grow and as awareness grows, all answers will come on their own, when the time is right.

Waiting for answers, desperately seeking answers to painful questions is a part of the illusion that the mind has built. The mind does NOT want any answers, the mind does NOT want to solve any problems. And it cant.

Only stillness, WITHOUT slipping into what Pink Floyd so beautifully expresses as the 'Comfortably Numb' condition, is the answer.

As stillness comes, awareness grows and understanding of life deepens. And painful questions answer themselves. Slowly but surely.

Life seems to flow in a vaxing and vaning manner because it is in the nature of the ego to vax and vane.

.......

The Eagles sing 'Its just another day in paradise'....then they sing 'maybe you've forgotten the heaven lying at your feet'.

These statements are not at all vague. So many spiritual paths say that suffering is an illusion.

Here are a few paraphrases....I do not have the sources at my disposal currently.

'Only that which is real is real, and deep down life know what is real. Illusions fight with themselves all the time, and illusions will wear themselves out when the time comes.' --- A Course In Miracles.

'A Course In Miracles' says that only illusions fight with themselves. Life does not fight with itself. The illusion that life is fighting with itself will wear out when the time comes.

'Stillness Speaks'--Eckhart Tolle.

All through this book named 'Stillness Speaks', and in his other books, Tolle insists that humans are in the grip of illusion. That real life is not and cannot be in conflict with itself.

Eastern mysticism talks of 'Maya' and insists that suffering is an illusion.

Such messages that come through, about the illusion of suffering, are everywhere. More examples will be added to this blog entry, in time.

Luminous Emptiness

2007-09-25T16:04:00.014+05:30

This image reminds me of a Tibetan Buddhism book I read, named 'Luminous Emptiness', by Francesca Fremantle, a disciple of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the founder of Naropa University, a university dedicated to Tibetan Buddhism and other miscellaneous eastern mystical schools.

Here is a short story I wrote based on this photograph:

As the colourless light of emptiness reveals itself to the girl...she feels afraid.

The light comforts her, assumes various forms to amuse her and console her...but still she feels afraid.

"The forms of light around you are just phenomena, NOT PEOPLE", says a Light Being. "The light is formless life, conscious emptiness, pure innocent platonic love, talking to you."

"Just hear what we have to say", say the formless beings. "If you do not understand what you hear, have faith...and keep listening, keep watching...and allow life to flow through you without resistance, allow the words to flow without resistance...all we are doing is shining the light of awareness on the demonic forces that are around you, so do not be afraid, just watch, and hear our words, and the light will grow...the demonic energy will transmute into bliss...

Liberation through hearing during the Bardo phase, like the book 'Luminous Emptiness' says...

Just quietly watch the dance that formless life does, as it displays its platonic love, its wonder, its power. Do not fear...we are here to restore you, not destroy you.

You will feel ok as your awareness increases and you see the reality of the pseudo-horror around you..."

And the dance continues...

The Human Emotional Condition

2007-09-24T11:16:00.003+05:30

(Painting by Salvador Dali)

Assuming this feeling exists between me and you, we need feeling X a bit more. But observation shows that feeling Y does not exist between you and me, but we need to wait and watch a bit to be sure. While we wait, I need 10 kilograms of moral support from you, combined with 15 kilograms of patience. If you are unable to give me 10 kilograms of moral support and 20 kilograms of emotional understanding, I will file for divorce, or belittle you in front of family and friends, until I get at least 5 kilograms of emotional understanding from you. Another six months will be given, for at least 10 kilograms of moral support, and if it does not come, I will take you to court where I will take 20 million units of money for the 1000s of kilograms of patience and tonnes of sexual releases I gave you.

You must provide XYZ money and 20 kilograms of patience and understanding per week, for our children. If you fail, my lawyer will make sure that the family court will fine you another X units of money and send you to relationship-therapists until you find 20 kilograms of emotional support to spare for our children...blah...blah...blah...

Dreidel

2007-09-21T03:41:00.000+05:30

Lyrics of 'Dreidel' by Don McLean. A wonderful song about life's dance, and how it makes us dance.

I feel like a spinning top or a Dreidel
The spinning don't stop when you leave the cradle
You just slow down
Round and around the world you go
Spinning through the lives of the people you know
We all slow down
How you gonna keep on turning from day to day?
How you gonna keep from turning your life away?

No days you can borrow, no time you can buy.
No trust in tomorrow. It's a lie.
And I feel like I'm dippin' and divin'.
My sky shoes are spiked with lead heels.
I'm lost in this star car I'm drivin'.
But my air sole keeps pushin' big wheels.
My world is a constant confusion.
My mind is prepared to attack.
My past a persuasive illusion.
I'm watchin' the future it's black.
What do you know?
You know just what you perceive.
What can you show?
Nothing of what you believe.
And as you grow, each thread of life that you leave
Will spin around your deeds and dictate your needs
As you sell your soul and you sow your seeds
And you wound yourself and your loved one bleed
And your habits grow, and your conscience feeds
On all that you thought you should be
I never thought this could happen to me.

I feel like a spinning top or a dreidel.
The spinning don't stop when you leave the cradle.
You just slow down.
Round and around the world you go
Spinning through the lives of the people you know.
We all slow down.
How you gonna keep on turning from day to day?
How you gonna keep from turning your life away? Oh..

I feel like a spinning top or a dreidel.
The spinning don't stop when you leave the cradle.
You just slow down.

The Original Sin

2007-09-17T00:37:00.018+05:30

The Zeenat Aman tragedy (covered in my blog entry dated July 26, 2007) brings me to what spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle talks of, when he talks of the suppression of the female essence by the male essence on this planet, an event he calls the root of human insanity(or ego). The imbalanced yin-yang on this planet, so to say. The fundamental rip in the fabric of human existence. The 'Original Sin'.

He writes, in his book 'A New Earth':

"Suppression of the feminine principle over the last few thousand years has enabled the ego to gain absolute supremacy in the collective human psyche. Although women have egos, of course, the ego can take root and grow more easily in the male form than in the female. If the balance between male and female energies had not been destroyed on this planet, the ego's growth [hence human insanity's growth] would have been greatly curtailed. We would not have declared war on nature, and we would not be so completely alienated from ourselves."

Jennifer Jones, psychotherapist/motivator/guru, in her articles on women's issues, writes:

"For the past five thousand years, a woman's value depended solely on the benefit she could provide men, either as a pleasurable sexual object or as a vehicle for procreation and servitude."

The complete content of these strongly written articles can be found at: The sexual value of women.

A poem written by someone I know expresses the sentiments of women on this issue:

The mother
raped and plundered by humans
cries out in agony
screams in anguish
finds no mercy
only derisive laughter and loneliness
she breaks, shatters
gets destroyed
floats in the netherworld for eons
rises
destroys her tormentors
but
the inertia of her torment
goes round in her head
as mankind goes about its evil ways...

The following song is the essence of what Eckhart Tolle and Jennifer Jones say, about the suppression of the female essence by the male essence.

A song named 'Woman in Chains' by 'Tears for Fears'.

Lyrics:

You better love loving and you better behave
You better love loving and you better behave
Woman in chains
Woman in chains

Calls her man the great white hope
Says shes fine, she'll always cope
Woman in chains
Woman in chains

Well I feel lying and waiting is a poor man's deal
And I feel hopelessly weighed down by your eyes of steel
Its a world gone crazy
Keeps woman in chains

Trades her soul as skin and bones
Sells the only thing she owns
Woman in chains
Woman in chains

Men of stone
Men of stone

Well I feel deep in your heart there are wounds time can't heal
And I feel somebody somewhere is trying to breathe
Well you know what I mean
Its a world gone crazy
Keeps woman in chains

Its under my skin but out of my hands
I'll tear it apart but I wont understand
I will not accept the greatness of man

Its a world gone crazy
Keeps woman in chains

So free her
So free her
So free her
So free her

'I will not accept the greatness of man'...Well said, 'Tears for Fears'.

Here is the video of 'Woman in Chains'....

The Dance Of Life

2007-09-15T05:34:00.001+05:30

The play of this life...all a happening, nobody is doing much. All events that unfold in this world are happening on their own. People are just puppets who are a part of the happening, they are not doing much. Even the little that they do is an illusion.

It is not easy to comprehend this, but what people are actually doing is totally different from what they THINK they are doing.

The person's concept of 'I' is wrong. The concept of 'ME' is wrong. This 'I', this 'ME' does not exist.

The following video shows how life moves in this world...no one is doing anything...it is all flowing on its own.

Link: SnabbStart

(I am aware that this post is quite cryptic.)

Panis Angelicus

2007-09-11T21:40:00.000+05:30

Two versions of Panis Angelicus that I am fond of...

By Luciano Pavarotti and Sting, 1992:

By Chloe Angnew, a beautiful singer from Ireland. Very pretty girl and sings well too.

Himalayas on Roerich

2007-09-05T01:33:00.004+05:30

I was always fascinated by the Himalayas and their surrealistic, mystical beauty. My last trip to the Himalayas was 5 years ago, and I remember the fantastic timeless feeling they instilled in me. Time seems to have come to a standstill, in the obscure recesses of the Himalayas.

Here is a wonderful photograph named 'Himalayas on Roerich'. Named after Nicholas Roerich.

Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) was a russian who spent most of his life in the Himalayas, painting them with a crazy passion. Nicholas Roerich is considered a mystic by many.

This photograph reminds me of a poem I wrote in my college days.
___

"The orange glow of the evening sky,
teases my senses, allures me

I take a walk
and sit outside the 9th block

And watch mother nature's hypnotic dance

Sometimes ferocious, sometimes tender

Fast, furious, fierce, feisty...

I get mesmerised by her beauty...

and wish that the moment freezes eternally..."
____

**9th block was the name of my college hostel.

Image link: Himalayas on Roerich.

Symptoms of Inner Peace

2007-08-26T08:29:00.000+05:30

Words of wisdom that I found on the page: Symptoms of Inner Peace by Saskia Davis. She is the former director of the "Northwest Center for Attitudinal Healing".

Symptoms of Inner Peace
by Saskia Davis

Nothing like a little humor to add insight into the traits we seek to emulate...

Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to inner peace and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.

Some signs and symptoms of inner peace:

• A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.

• An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.

• A loss of interest in judging other people.

• A loss of interest in judging self.

• A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.

• A loss of interest in conflict.

• A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)

• Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.

• Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.

• Frequent attacks of smiling.

• An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than (try to) make them happen.

• An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.

WARNING:
If you have some or all of the above symptoms, please be advised that your condition of inner peace may be so far advanced as to not be curable. If you are exposed to anyone exhibiting any of these symptoms, remain exposed only at your own risk.

Secrets

2007-08-21T13:24:00.002+05:30

Paisley's new blog 'secret… secret… i’ve got a secret….' reminds me of a movie I saw, a long time back. A 1972 Jacqueline Bisset movie named 'Secrets'.....

Jacqueline Bisset (left) plays a housewife who has some problems with her husband. The movie takes place in the course of one day. In the late afternoon while her husband is being interviewed for a job, Jacqueline is approached by a man who says that she resembles his dead wife.

As she gets to know him, an affair develops. Her husband meanwhile has a relationship with the female interviewer. Finally, both the affairs only help to strengthen the marriage. Great movie.

Paisley's new blog's concept: Anyone who wants their secrets revealed through her new blog can leave an anonymous message there.

Here is the link: http://fragmented-paisley.blogspot.com/2007/08/secretsecretive-got-secret.html

Like Paisley writes.....
"all comments will be emailed to me [first],, not posted on the blog [directly]... that way no one will ever know who you are.. or what sordid,, sacred,, secrets you've got hiding in your closet!!!!.....c'mon....you know you want to!!!!!"

Bittersweet Symphony

2007-08-16T20:22:00.000+05:30

cause its a bittersweet symphony, that's life...

trying to make ends meet, trying to find somebody, then you die...

trying to make ends meet, you're a slave to money, then you die...

I need to hear some sounds that recognise the pain in me yeah...

Hypocrisy Part 2

2007-07-26T15:54:00.013+05:30

The case of Zeenat Aman

This is a re-post of an old blog entry of mine. Delves into hypocrisy and the contrast between the public image and the private person.

Zeenat Aman (left) is an Indian film actress, now 57 years old, who seduced an entire generation of Indians, with a career spanning well over a decade.

She was also Miss Asia-Pacific in the year 1970, is blessed with a very high IQ, and studied fashion and journalism at Los Angeles. I have seen many of her interviews and movies, and she has a fantastic personality. She is a woman to be admired, and was greatly admired by hundreds of millions of Indians for over a decade. More or less a cult following.

But where is she today? She is ignored and ridiculed by people. For the simple reason that she was a sex symbol in conservative India in the 70s-80s. At that time people used to get hypnotised by her looks and charm, but now, the very same people treat her in a very shabby manner.

This behaviour towards her is because people cannot handle her beauty and her boldness. Indians tend to get shocked even by mild things like kissing in public.

Her rough treatment by the world is human nature manifesting, which looks for excuses to haul others down. 'Old woman, ugly woman, whore..'....labels given to her by the very people who used to enjoy watching her movie-roles when she was young and beautiful.

She overdid her seductive roles by Indian standards, and they can't handle it.

She does not act in the movies anymore, has not done so in a long time, apart from two tiny appearances in the last 15 years.

The amazing thing is that the Indian masses still enjoy her old movies, but curse her anyway for being a sexually expressive woman. They can't deal with the strong emotions generated by the presence of a beautiful, sensuous woman. (Although they love it.)

This is a sign of insanity. Indian flavour. (Other societies who claim to be civilised are also insane. Their flavour of insanity depends on their culture.)

Zeenat Aman's personal life has been tragic too. Lost her father when she was 13, gave up everything for a b-grade actor she fell in love with, when she was in her early 30s (at the peak of her career). He turned out to be a violent man who used treat her badly in front of friends. She went through the trauma for many many years, had two sons by him. He threw her out ultimately, alleging she was an 'immoral woman'.

The many TV interviews I have seen of her, she comes across as a remarkably decent, intelligent, strong, dignified woman who has led a very difficult life and carries her pain very gracefully. A graceful lady who seems to be as beautiful on the inside, as she is on the outside.

I do not believe that she has no integrity, like some people claim. Just because she is sensuous & bold, it does not mean she has no integrity. The way she handles herself proves that she has integrity, it's just that her movie roles were very bold.

Welcome to the NOW

2007-07-20T15:08:00.001+05:30

I am convinced life is divine...because I see beauty as an attribute that comes from the deepest level of life. The level that is beyond matter.

Beauty cannot be of biological origin. A matrix of atoms, protons and electrochemical impulses cannot be 'beautiful', at least not in the sexual sense.

Ones who look at sexuality only in terms of biology and biochemical, electrical responses are subconsciously reducing life to a mechanical, electro-chemical reality.

Pause and look carefully at the following photos.

What *feeling* do they generate in you?

"Thoughts and feelings" that only generate references to anatomy do not qualify as real feelings.

Thoughts that try to apply some kind of 'facial symmetry thumbrule/formula/database' to judge these faces as beautiful or ugly --- such thoughts do not know what beauty is. Or its opposite, for that matter.

Once again...do they look like photos of a bunch of proportionate or disproportionate facial anatomy?

Or is there anything 'whole' emanating, exuding, flowing out towards you?

Do you see an "emanation of the indwelling life" like Bryant would ask?

If you can see this radiance, this something that is exuding...welcome to the NOW!

Photos: Brooke Shields, Preity Zinta & Gillian Anderson.

Hypocrisy

2007-06-27T14:23:00.000+05:30

Update: Somebody just commented anonymously, that 'this blog is not about spirituality'. Well...all I can say to that person is *kiss my @$$*.

Moving on---

I received some hostile comments on my last post (Psychosis or Transcendence) recently, comments that have been deleted. This post is inspired by these comments.

Two people had problems focusing on the text of the post, and got fixated on the accompanying image which has mild nudity(The Cosmic Dancer). This happened although the image fits perfectly with the text of the post.

Many people---their unevolved emotional worlds cannot see the difference between art and porn. They have way too many sexual hangups.

The sexual hangup is a cross cultural phenomenon, it exists in every culture, at every socio-economic level. You will find this hangup in the ghettos of an orthodox Indian town, you will find this hangup in the uppermost echelons of New Delhi. You will find this hangup in the royal circles of London, you will find this hangup in the snobbish circles of New York. You name a place, and this hangup will be there.

Please note that I am not talking about movie stars, playboy models and the like. They are a different breed altogether although they come from all kinds of backgrounds and socio-economic levels. They get used to things like nudity, although even they are not totally free of hangups. I know this for sure, having studied many pornstars and movie actresses, through their interviews. Their hangups are less intense, but are very much there.

The 'sexually liberated person' is VERY VERY rare. The ones who come across as sexually liberated are (most probably) pretending. I have seen some people who are actually liberated, but it is very rare.

M. Scott Peck, reknowned psychiatrist, who's theories are taught at many good universities all over the world, writes in his book, 'The Road Less Travelled'....

[Paraphrased]: "Sex is a problem for Jane. Sex is a problem for John. Sex is a problem for the husband, sex is a problem for the wife. Sex is a problem for everyone, including Scott Peck."

(I don't have the book with me right now, hence the paraphrase.)

Here are some examples of Indian hypocrisy. Indians pray to a naked Kali (an Indian goddess who is naked most of the time!) in temples, but these people will drive you crazy with their sexual orthodoxy and sexual hypocrisy. They cannot handle the strong emotions generated by sexual issues/nudity and create havoc, destroy when stimulated.

For example--recently, Hindu fundamentalists went on a rampage in an Indian town named Lucknow...because they were against Indian girls wearing jeans & trousers in public.

Although secretly the same men love seeing women in tight clothes, jeans etc...hypocrites.

The same problem exists everywhere. For example, a girl I know was telling me that girls in her community, somewhere in the United States of America, are not allowed to wear jeans or tight clothes...now...I highly doubt that men in that american community do not like seeing women in tight clothes! She was also telling me that women in her community are not allowed to watch 'HBO' because it has 'dirty Hollywood movies'.

These are not examples of 'decent people imposing bans on indecent people', this is ALL nonsense, all hypocrisy.

Somebody might say that people belonging to upper socio-economic echelons are in general casual and cool about sexual issues and nudity. This is incorrect. They pretend to be casual and cool. They are NOT casual and cool, on the inside!

The playboy model or the movie actress who takes her clothes off on camera is NOT sexually liberated. She is just "BOLD".

Pornstars are also NOT liberated, sexually! Just very very "BOLD"!

The surprising thing is that my other post with nudity--the one on 'Sadomasochism, Nurture and Love' that I posted 15 days back--did not attract bizarre comments--although it carried no warnings--- though I have changed that now, it is hidden like the cosmic dancer in 'Psychosis or Transcendence' is hidden.

My ArtWork - Dzydzilelya Ania

2007-06-11T02:42:00.001+05:30

Dzydzilelya is the Polish Goddess of love, marriage, sexuality and fertility...

Made using Photoshop CS2 9.0.

Psychosis or Transcendence? (Features My Artwork)

2007-06-01T00:20:00.004+05:30

To the left is my version of Fritjof Capra's famous 'Cosmic Dancer'.

Click to enlarge.

The original 'Cosmic Dancer' by Capra has a dancing Shiva surrounded by cosmic particles and lit up cosmic particle streaks.

Instead of Shiva, I have portrayed supermodel Cindy Crawford as the Cosmic Dancer here. Much more appealing to the eye. ;-)

This version of the cosmic dancer was made by me using a playboy photo of Cindy Crawford and Adobe Photoshop. Its my first attempt at photomanipulation.

Fritjof Capra is the author of the cult book, 'The Tao of Physics' which compares the parallels between mysticism and modern physics. A book inspired by none other than Werner Heisenberg, one of the fathers of quantum physics.

On Page 360 of The Tao of Physics, Capra writes on Werner Heisenberg's role in his project:

Heisenberg's book 'Physics and Philosophy', his classic account of the history and philosophy of quantum physics, exerted an enormous influence on me when I first read it as a young student. The book has remained my companion during my studies and my work as a physicist, and today I can see that it was Heisenberg who planted the seed of The Tao of Physics. I was fortunate to meet Heisenberg in the early 70s. I had several long discussions with him, and when I finished The Tao of Physics I went through the manuscript with him, chapter by chapter. It was Heisenberg's personal support and inspiration that carried me through those difficult years, when I went out on a limb to develop a radically new idea.

i.e. Werner Heisenberg, one of the fathers of quantum physics, endorses mysticism---something that is not about 'rational thinking', but about 'feelings and meditative awareness'.

In the introduction to The Tao of Physics, Capra writes:

Five years ago[1969], I had a beautiful experience which set me on a road that has led to the writing of this book. I was sitting by the ocean one late summer afternoon watching the waves rolling in and feeling the rhythm of my breathing when I suddenly became aware of my whole environment as being engaged in a gigantic cosmic dance. Being a physicist, I knew that sand, rocks, water and air around me were made of vibrating molecules and atoms, and that these consisted of particles which interacted with one another by creating and destroying other particles. I knew also that the Earth's atmosphere was continually bombarded by showers of 'cosmic rays', particles of high energy undergoing multiple collisions as they penetrated the air. All this was familiar to me through my research in high-energy physics, but until that moment I had only experienced it through graphs, diagrams, and mathematical theories. As I sat on that beach, my former experiences came to light; I 'saw' cascades of energy coming down from outer space, in which particles were created and destroyed in rhythmic pulses; I 'saw' the atoms of the elements, and those of my body participating in this cosmic dance of energy; I felt its rhythm and I 'heard' its sound, and at that moment I knew that this was the Dance of Shiva, the Lord of Dancers worshipped by the Hindus.

I had gone through a long training in theoretical physics and had done several years of research. At the same time, I had become very interested in eastern mysticism and had begun to see the parallels to modern physics. I was particularly attracted to the puzzling aspects of Zen which reminded me of the puzzles in quantum theory. At first, however, relating the two was a purely intellectual exercise. To overcome the gap between rational analytical thinking and the meditative experience of mystical truth, was, and still is, very difficult for me.

They [readers of this book] will find that eastern mysticism provides a consistent and beautiful philosophical framework which can accommodate our most advanced theories of the physical world. Mysticism is an experience that cannot be learned from books.

What Capra describes in the above passage is a 'satori' or a state of sudden, temporary illumination of the mind. When higher mental faculties open up suddenly (if only temporarily), a vision that can (sometimes) be translated into a work like The Tao of Physics, is 'seen'.

The reader must have noticed that Capra writes he "saw" the atoms......"heard" the sound of energy dancing. He writes this way because he is not talking about literal seeing or hearing. This is a reference to the opening up of the mind. Or Consciousness expansion. OR...STEPPING BEYOND THOUGHT, INTO THE REALM OF DIRECT EXPERIENCE WITH REALITY.

In my post on 'beliefs', I have written:

"All of us have direct experiences with higher truths, but most of us dismiss them as vague feelings or temporary mental dysfunction.....but there are some who don't....not saying 'hallucinations' are not mental dysfunction---what I am saying is not all 'alleged hallucinations' are mental dysfunction. Some may be visions. Satori."

In Capra's case, it was a genuine satori that inspired him to write The Tao of Physics.

An experience with satori is not a 'rational' phenomenon. It is not psychosis either. It is transcendence.

The Tao of Physics is full of examples of how mystics gather information. It is pretty direct about how mystics realise higher truths by transcending the known world. Werner Heisenberg endorsed it all. And I doubt Werner Heisenberg was deluded or insane.

*** A short note on satori: My understanding of satori is that it is a sudden & temporary illumination of the mind. As compared to Enlightenment, which is sudden and permanent.

Soulmates

2007-05-31T10:25:00.014+05:30

Soulmates is a topic I have pondered often. The human lives a short life, has relationships that have very little substance in them and then vanishes, or so it seems.

Even otherwise, it is very difficult for even a genuine relationship to survive the madness of this world.

I believe it is all due to the immature emotional worlds that humans have. Immature and overtaken by negative feelings and selfishness.

I believe eternal soulmates exist. I believe multiple eternal soulmates also exist...but I feel soulmates will come into a human's life (to stay, once and for all) only after his/her emotional world matures.

Immature (and often selfish and negative) human beings cannot fall into long lasting relationships. So, even if one meets an eternal-soulmate-to-be, the relationship will not last.

But I believe they will meet again, in some other lifetime, when both are ready...and this time it will be eternal**.

By "ready" I mean people who are serious, unselfish, patient, and comfortable with their dark side.

Unselfish at least with the person they claim they love.

The presence of REAL romantic love can defeat death and turn people into eternal beings. Absolutely. Because if REAL romantic love is present, EROS cannot dwindle. And EROS is the creator, the preserver of life. It is magic. Real magic.

__________________

**I have approached the subject of 'eternal life' in one of my blog entries, 'The Journey'. Plan to approach this subject in a more direct manner, in the near future.

Clickable Link: "The Journey."
_____________________

Update:

At the beginning of this blog entry, I wrote that most humans have relationships that have very little substance in them. I'd like to elaborate on that here...i.e the *substance*.

In her blog 'The Art Of Intimacy', Jennifer Jones writes "Love is what we do". The complete text of this post can be found here: Love is something that we do.

This is 100% correct. Because talk is easy...it's the actions that matter. I always found the phrase 'I love you' very corny, and people who use it at the drop of a hat, very strange.

Feeling love and allowing it to translate into actions are two different things....real love ALWAYS brings with it real action. Or at least the pure, genuine intention of real action.

Without effort/action, or without the genuine intention of real action, it is not love.
_______

UPDATE July 02, 2007:
Thinking about 'Soulmates' always reminds me of the Righteous Brothers song "Unchained Melody".

Friendship, Pretense, Revenge

2007-05-29T06:33:00.001+05:30

A, B & C are three friends. When A & B are together, they make fun of C. When A & C are together, they make fun of B. When B & C are together, they make fun of A.

I am not talking about fun as in light hearted play. I am talking about derision & obnoxious comments. This pattern of behaviour is a de facto standard in the human world.

People do this all the time, and then say things like 'there are no real friends in this world'....'there is no love in this world'....'everybody misunderstands me'....'I am an innocent person'.

Such talk is either delusion, or hypocrisy, or a mixture of the two. (i.e. the sign of a nutcase!) It is a classic example of what is called 'elephant talk', like King Crimson sings:

Lyrics:

Talk, it's only talk
Arguments, agreements, advice, answers,
Articulate announcements
It's only talk

Talk, it's only talk
Babble, burble, banter, bicker bicker bicker
Brouhaha, boulderdash, ballyhoo
It's only talk

Comments, cliches, commentary, controversy
Chatter, chit-chat, chit-chat, chit-chat,
Conversation, contradiction, criticism
Cheap talk

Talk, talk, it's only talk
Debates, discussions
Dialogue, dualogue, diatribe,
Dissention, declamation
Double talk, double talk

Talk, talk, it's all talk
Too much talk
Talk that trash

Most people I have met see other people through the eyes of HATRED. It is strange to see these people complain that the world is bad & nasty.

Artificial people deride other people by calling them fake, artificial and pretentious. They label others as materialistic*, although they themselves live superficial lives that revolve around money only.

*By materialistic I mean someone who values material wealth over human relationships. Otherwise there is nothing wrong in valuing and enjoying wealth--if it's not at the cost of anyone's health and wellbeing.

The average human's mind is full of trash, noise..total nonsense! It is a desert, a barren land; it has no centre, it is not balanced. It may produce fancy words and sound articulate...but those words don't have any meaning, if one looks at the big picture of his/her life...which spells just one word...'HATRED'.

Here is the King Crimson Video...'Elephant Talk'.

Pretentious Friends And Revenge:

Pretentious talk used to infuriate me. It used to generate in me an insane kind of violent anger that is very very dangerous. In some cases I lost control and some people got damaged in the process...due to their own hypocrisy...I don't regret it. Not really. They deserved what they got.

Eckhart Tolle's Awakening

2007-03-26T22:39:00.001+05:30

The following passage is from Eckhart Tolle's book, 'The Power of Now'. He describes his spiritual awakening...

ξ
I have little use of the past and rarely think about it; however I would briefly like to tell you how I came to be a spiritual teacher and how this book came into existence.

Until my thirtieth year, I lived in a state of almost continuous anxiety interspersed with periods of suicidal depression. It feels now as if I am talking about some past lifetime or somebody else’s life.

One night, not long after my 29th birthday, I woke up in the early hours with a feeling of absolute dread. I had woken up with such a feeling many times before, but this time it was more intense than it had ever been. The silence of the night, the vague outlines of the furniture in the dark room, the distant noise of a passing train--- everything felt so alien, so hostile, and so utterly meaningless that it created in me a deep loathing of the world. The most loathsome thing of all, however, was my own existence. What was the point in continuing to live with this burden of misery? Why carry on with this continuous struggle? I could feel that a deep longing for annihilation, for nonexistence, was now becoming much stronger than the instinctive desire to continue to live.

I cannot live with myself any longer.’ This was the thought that kept repeating itself in my mind. Then suddenly I became aware what a peculiar thought it was. ‘Am I one or two? If I cannot live with myself, then there must be two of me: the ‘I’ and the ‘self’ that ‘I’ cannot live with.’ ‘Maybe’, I thought, ‘only one of them is real.’

I was so stunned by this strange realization that my mind stopped. I was fully conscious, but there were no more thoughts. Then I felt drawn into what seemed like a vortex of energy. It was a slow movement at first and then accelerated. I was gripped by an intense fear, and my body started to shake. I heard the words ‘resist nothing’ as if spoken inside my chest. I could feel myself being sucked into a void. It felt as if the void was inside myself rather than outside. Suddenly, there was no more fear, and I let myself fall into that void. I have no recollection of what happened after that.

I was awakened by the chirping of a bird outside the window. I had never heard such a sound before. My eyes were still closed, and I saw the image of a precious diamond. Yes, if a diamond could make a sound, this is what it would be like. I opened my eyes. The first light of dawn was filtering through the curtains. Without any thought, I felt, I knew, that there is infinitely more to light than we realize. That soft luminosity filtering through the curtains was love itself. Tears came into my eyes. I got up and walked around the room. I recognized the room, and yet I knew that I had never truly seen it before. Everything was fresh and pristine, as if it had just come into existence. I picked up things, a pencil, an empty bottle, marveling at the beauty and the aliveness of it all.

That day I walked around the city in utter amazement at the miracle of life on earth, as if I had just been born into this world.

For the next five months, I lived in a state of uninterrupted peace and bliss. After that, it diminished somewhat in intensity, or perhaps it just seemed to because it became my natural state. I could still function in the world, although I realized that nothing I ever did could possibly add anything to what I already had.

I knew of course, that something profoundly significant had happened to me, but I didn’t understand it at all. It wasn’t until several years later, after I had read spiritual texts and spent time with spiritual teachers, that I realized that what everybody was looking for had already happened to me. I understood that the intense pressure of suffering that night must have forced my consciousness to withdraw from its identification with the unhappy and deeply fearful self, which is ultimately a fiction of the mind. This withdrawal must have been so complete that this false, suffering self immediately collapsed, just as if a plug had been pulled out of an inflatable toy. What was left then was my true nature as the ever present I am: consciousness in its pure state prior to identification with form. Later I also learned to go into that inner timeless and deathless realm that I had originally perceived as a void and remain fully conscious. I dwelt in states of such indescribable bliss and sacredness that even the original experience I just described pales in comparison. A time came when, for a while, I was left with nothing on the physical plane. I had no relationships, no job, no home, no socially defined identity. I spent almost two years sitting on park benches in a state of the most intense joy.

But even the most beautiful experiences come and go. More fundamental, perhaps, than any experience, is the undercurrent of peace that has never left me since then. Sometimes it is very strong, almost palpable, and others can feel it too. At other times, it is somewhere in the background, like a distant melody.

Later people would occasionally come up to me and say: ‘I want what you have. Can you give it to me or show me where to get it?’ And I would say, ‘you have it already, you just can’t feel it because your mind is making too much noise.’ That answer later grew into the book you are holding in your hands.

Before I knew it, I had an external identity again. I had become a spiritual teacher.

ξ

Spiritual Sex Part 1

2007-03-11T12:51:00.003+05:30

I have often come across people who say 'sex is a spiritual experience' or 'sex should be a spiritual experience'. But they can't elaborate on what spiritual sex should be like. This blog entry is an attempt towards discussing 'spiritual sex'.

I believe that sex becomes spiritual when the people involved allow their minds to fall silent during the act. Imagine a sexual scenario in which your mind is silent and still and calm. If your mind is still and calm, the mental lens vanishes.

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(The mental lens is explained in this blog entry.)
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So, when the mental lens is no longer there, you experience the sights, sounds & sensations of sex perfectly clearly. Sex now becomes more enjoyable because your senses are no longer dullened by the mental lens. Becomes more erotic.

This kind of sex should be performed slowly, in a calm manner. Each moment of sex becomes perfect when the minds involved are calm.

The partners should avoid talking during sex unless it's necessary.

Two minds can connect with each other at a very deep level if they are silent and calm. Sex acts as the catalyst. This kind of sex is spiritual, it is holy.

Summary: The sexual experience becomes more intense when the mind is calm. Because the mental lens is not there and there is oneness between the partners.

Image in this post is entitled 'The Symphony of Love'. © 2005-2007 Lovisa: Lovisa's Art

The Mental Lens (The Hostile Emotional World)

2007-03-06T03:43:00.003+05:30

A proper understanding of this blog entry is necessary to understand my post 'Spiritual Sex Part 1'.

Definition: The Mental Lens = Tensions, frustrations and other similar feelings that are connected to the past and the future.

Introduction: When one is totally in the NOW, the current moment, one's sexual experience heightens. The NOW is a state of mind wherein one's mind is free of past bondings, frustrations, and worry about anything related to the future.
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A very good example of the 'direct experience of reality' is being in the NOW. The current moment. But this is very difficult to manage because of the(primarily hostile) emotional world of the human being, which forces him/her to live either in the past or in anticipation of the future.

Pink Floyd in their song 'Sorrow'(from 'Momentary Lapse of Reason'/'Delicate Sound of Thunder') sing:

A man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers,
But awakes to a morning with no reason for waking
He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise

He's chained forever to a world that's departed
It's not enough, it's not enough...
His blood has frozen & curdled with fright

They are singing about what I am talking about in this post....the 'mental lens', and the emotional world that leads to it's creation.

A man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers
(Lack of acceptance of the current life situation, dreaming of a future nirvana.)

He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise
Chained forever to a world that's departed, it's not enough it's not enough...
(Living in the past)

His blood has frozen, curdled with fright....
(The human emotional world tends to this so often in life....tensions, frustrations, fears....)

This sorrowful emotional world is what spiritual teachers call the 'mental lens'. This mental lens comes in the way of 'the direct experience of reality'. Or the clear perception of the surroundings and its people.

The human is not aware of this mental lens, and may not take this phrase seriously, but this is a reality. Calling this phenomenon a lens is not wrong because it distorts perception.

In other words, this phrase 'the mental lens' means that the average human lacks presence of mind. He is barely present. He is lost most of the time, in a mental haze, mental fog, the spooky realm of past and future.

For example, a drunken or drugged person can't see and hear properly. The surroundings may appear hazy etc. This is a glaring example of the mental lens...in the drunk person it has thickened due to the intoxication.

This hazy-foggy mental state is also the condition of the normal, un-intoxicated person, although to a lesser degree. But unfortunately it is not apparent to him. For example, when a pre-occupied person is at a beautiful hill station or at a beautiful beach, can he really see and feel the beauty around him? He can't. Because he is seeing everything through the 'mental lens'; his tensions, frustrations & sorrows are distorting & dulling his perception.

Summary:
All these emotions like tension, frustration & sorrow make up the 'mental lens' that comes in the way of clear perception of surroundings. Most of the time the human is not aware that his perception of the surroundings is dull.

Update: The spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle coined the phrase 'the mental lens'.

Emotional pain is addictive. And there's plenty of it, in the person's past. His emotional world therefore guides him there. Pain attracts more pain, wants more pain, wants to give more pain. The past is a paradise, a painful paradise for a violent emotional world. So is a painful imaginary future.
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Click here to go to Spiritual Sex Part 1.

End Note: The Direct Experience of Reality is possible only when the mental lens wanes.

Eye Candy from India (Part 1)

2006-12-30T09:11:00.001+05:30

I made this shockwave slideshow from random images I found on the internet; my favourite girl in this slideshow is the one with long horns, she's also referred to as the rural indian goddess...

This animation is 120 seconds long.

If you have a problem playing flash on your I.E. 7, please visit the following link:

http://blog.deconcept.com/2006/12/08/corrupt-flash-player-install-after-ie-7-upgrade/

In defence of George Michael

2006-11-28T08:57:00.005+05:30

A friend of mine refused to analyse George Michael (the singer) beyond 'fag...homo....gay..'

Is George Michael a criminal because he indulges in homosexuality? Does George Michael not have depth as a human being because he has a drug-alcohol problem?

I do not endorse homosexuality, but I am not AGAINST it. I am neutral to it.

People who are 'PASSIONATELY AGAINST' homosexuality/bisexuality are, at some level, badly attracted to this mode of sexuality. If homosexuality STARTLES you, it means it turns you on at some level. The pure heterosexual is neutral to homosexuality. Neither for it nor against it.

If the reader is, by now, 'startled' by these statements of mine, and thinks I am crazy, I would like to draw his attention to the famous saying 'you lie so much you believe yourself'. Which means--a state of existence in which delusions and repression prevent the mental-emotional construct from realising its own desires.

The tragedy of human existence is that people do not understand and want to avoid thinking about what moves them at what point, and because of that they are very confused about their actions so many times in their life. They lie, not just to others but even to themselves about what makes them tick.

George Michael has drug problems...yes. Many things may go wrong in the drug-dependant's life. He may turn into a vampire that preys on his family or friends, emotionally and/or financially.

But it's not necessary that a drug dependant will become a financial-emotional vampire. There are so many drug/alcohol dependants out there, who lead productive lives and do not feed on other people. George Michael is such a person. He does not harm anyone and his music suggests he is a compassionate person who is very much worried about suffering of the people.

Charities supported by George Michael:
Barnardo's, ChildLine, Children with AIDS Charity, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Gray Cancer Institute, Help a London Child, Jubilee Action, Macmillan Cancer Relief, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Nottinghamshire Bereavement Trust, Outcome, Outline, Positive Nation, Rainbow Trust, Red Cross, Red Hot Organization, Rhys Daniels Trust, St John's Hospice, Swan Lifeline, Terrence Higgins Trust, The Food Chain, UK Thalassaemia Society, War Child.

There's Something About Monogamy...

2006-11-27T22:55:00.022+05:30

Monogamy is perhaps nothing more than a lifestyle choice. It is a part of nature, but there is nothing 'natural' about monogamy. The existence of fighter/blocker/killer sperm seems to point to this.

The fighter/blocker/killer sperm exists for the sole purpose of preventing competition from impregnating the egg. Research indicates that 90% of the sperm is fighter/blocker/killer sperm. (Only 10% is designed to fertilise the egg.) This is also referred to as 'sperm competition'.

The fighter/blocker sperm builds a barrier in the cervix area, a barrier that does not allow sperm from a competing male to make it to the ovaries.

The killer sperm neutralises sperm from a competing male.

This scenario, of fighter/killer sperm fighting and killing each other over who impregnates the egg reminds me of jealous lovers fighting and killing each other over the woman!

Jokes apart, it is clear that nature has built into us mechanisms that are designed to ensure that a woman does not get impregnated by two males simultaneously.

Sounds like nature has given us the go-ahead to lead polyandrous/polygamous lifestyles, by offering this biological mechanism!

(Though this mechanism is not foolproof and there have been cases, although rare, in which human females have given birth to twins fathered by two different males.)

I read somewhere that just half a spoonful of semen is enough to impregnate a very large number of women. Perhaps this is a pointer that says men are allowed to get sexual with as many women as they want.

So:

1) Nature protects twins from being fathered by different fathers.

2) Nature has given the power to the male to impregnate a large number of women.

Current Hypothesis:

All lifestyle choices, polyandry, polygamy etc. are equally valid in the eyes of nature. Monogamy is just a choice, not the default.

Orgies are a dangerous game though...I am not sure threesomes (or higher cousins) are a good idea....wouldn't it get a bit confusing?!

So...like George Michael in his song 'I want your sex' sings.... 'sex is best when its one on one'. Well, it sure is! ;-)

__________________

Update:

The following is a remix version of George Michael's 'I want your sex'.

Includes a short public service message in which George Michael warns about the dangers of promiscuity - sexually transmitted diseases. Yikes! Who wants S.T.D!

"This Song is not about Casual Sex"

ॐ	OM	Symbol of the Brahman
भूः	Bhoo	Bhu-Loka (Physical plane)
भुवः	Bhuva	Antariksha-Loka (Astral plane)
स्वः	Svaha	Swarga-Loka (Celestial plane)
तत्	Tat	That; Transcendent Paramatman
सवितु	Savitur	Of the Sun
वरेण्यं	Varenyam	Fit to be worshipped or adored
भर्गो	Bhargo	Light, Illumination
देवस्य	Devasya	Divine
धीमहि	Dheemahi	Let us meditate
धियो	Dhiyo	thoughts
यो	Yo	Which
नः	Nah	Of us, Our
प्रचोदयात्	Prachodyat	Enlighten; Guide