When Speaking Your Mind Means Getting Reviled

What do I write about, on a day when I feel like I rather stay under my quilt and sleep, but the world around me, seems to be going a little tipsy, and my mind is just trying to make sense of all that seems absolutely crazy, but the world wants me to not just  accept it, as some kind of absolute truth, but to embrace it, or else I shall be taunted and teased, called names, and worse my basic human dignity to free speech and thinking shall be snatched away. Is that sentence too long, with way too many confusing things stated? Well, if you are reading this, let me tell you, each and every word I say is true in every sense of it. There are so many things in the 'modern' world today, which are lauded for being politically correct, and we have to toe the line or face the consequences of it that I sometimes wonder if it is OK for me to breathe. If so much as a hint of thinking out of the 'norm' is sniffed, be ready to be called every name in the book possible, and be demeaned and bullied non stop.

Let me share with you this article. It talks about a study on genders for scientists, that shows that the gender of a person is not just based on the physical attributes, but many many other traits inherent to our behaviour, personalities etc. This link is being covertly passed around amongst my friends and acquaintances, who believe that men and women are different. We do not say it out aloud, we do not share it in the open, but talk about it in whispers, saying things to the effect of  yes obviously, I have always believed that. The reason its all whispered in secret, is fear. Fear of the wrath of the so called 'modern, liberal feminists'. Oh yes! There are scathing comments and badgering non stop, should such things be mentioned.Well guess what? A man and woman are different, if something as basic as that needs to have scientific studies to prove, mankind truly is in a precarious state, and needs some serious therapy. Does being different mean that one is better than the other? Maybe to racists, sexists and feminists, but not to rational people. An apple and a banana are different, they are neither worse nor better than the other. The 2 of them together, will form a more balanced diet, than just one. Men and women, male and female were created different to perform different functions and thus form a complete whole for mankind. I am a woman, I am not the same as man, but I am neither better nor worse than man. Plain and simple. I am surprised that I need to say this aloud, I thought this was just plain common sense. ( I sometimes wonder, if the so called 'open-minded' ones, opened up their minds so much, that the brains just fell off!!)

And now, there is the upcoming public vote on the bill for marriage equality taking place in Australia. Where I stand on that aside, just the simple bullying and bashing of people happening over this is unbelievable. A lot of my friends, tell me not to watch the news, or follow what's happening. They feel, and very rightly so, that it brings in a lot of negativity and its unnecessary to bring that into your life. I agree! The vitriol being spewed by people, on those who hold a view different from theirs is unbelievable. Bullying is a very very mild word for what is happening. The meanness, the nastiness, and the plain and simple crude hate people are capable of is being bared, and honestly it makes me so so sad. It makes my heart weep, to know that people are capable of falling so beneath basic humanity. People have been spat on, stalked, threatened, abused and worse.Why? I wonder why? Because they don't agree to what you think, because they don't agree to what you have to say? The media, the corporations and even social media like Facebook, have crossed all basic limits to allow people the freedom to express their opinions. I am linking here to how Facebook has banned a person from the site for 30 days for sharing a past asking people to enroll themselves to be able to vote in the plebiscite.How and in what world is that acceptable? QANTAS - The spirit of Australia, recently displayed just how small and mean its spirit really is, and how it treats people who do not follow the CEO's beliefs.I really don't think the Aussie spirit is either that mean, but then the guy in power enjoys his personal vendetta there doesn't he? Reminds me a bit of Hitler to be honest.

I have plenty of logical views to put forth about which side of the SSM poll I stand on, and maybe when I am frustrated and enraged some more, I will, but just not today. Right now, I just rue that mankind is sliding down the slippery slope of hate and meanness that has no end. We shun the good and hug the bad. And maybe there needs to be scientific studies to prove where that leads to? The question on my mind though, is, do we speak up, air our voices and opinions inspite of the threat of being shut down, taunted, bullied and ridiculed or do  we save our peace of mind, maintain our silence in public, while the world as we know it changes irreparably forever? As far as I go, you can call me whatever names you want, I know what I believe, and I will stick by it with my dying breath, because really I don't need a scientist to tell me, that a man and a woman are different and we all have a gender as bestowed upon us from birth.

Moments

Every moment in our life is an opportunity
Good ones - to be happy,
Frustrating ones - to develop patience,
Victorious Ones - To build self confidence,
Ones of failure - to help us develop humility
Painful ones - to develop strength,
Sad ones - to help us realise all that we often take for granted, or leave unnoticed,
Helpless ones - to make us realise that there is infact a power far mightier than us, Who is always by our side.

Now its upto us, to use these opportunities and grow, or get too immersed in the positive or negative emotions they generate to actually learn. The choice is ours!

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥

 This is one of the most popular Shloka of the Bhagvad Gita, one that is oft repeated and spoken about. For the uninitiated, the Bhagvad Gita, is one of the main Holy books of Hinduism. One that was said to Arjuna by Lord Shree Krishna, in the battlefield of  Kurukshetra. This Grantha(holy book) lays down the basic guidlines for life, introducing to mankind, the concept of karma, the cycle of life and death, the eternal character of the soul and more. Every word in the Bhagwad Gita can inspire and motivate man to aim for beyond the material and apparent, and see beyond the obvious, to remove the veil of ignorance from his eyes.

Karmanyevadhikaraste Maa Phaleshu Kadachana|

Maa Karmaphalheturbhumo Te Sangostvakarmani||

Your right is to take action(do the work), never do you have the right to the results.

Do not take action with the aim of a result, but never be in a state of inaction either.

This shloka, always has, and still does speak to me. Maybe, I do not always adhere to it, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense, the more it seems to have to say, the more it clarifies itself in my mind. This post, is nothing but my personal understanding and comments on this shloka.

The simple message this conveys to me, is to keep my focus on my Karma(my actions), without contemplating on the results that action would bring forth. It is so simple in its essence. Indeed, if I just focus on honestly doing my duties, acting out my role, what better way than that, is there to live? It is the expectation of results, and fear of consequences, that make me dishonest in taking care of my duties. That expectations lead to disappointment is well known, but expectations, also often lead man to act dishonestly, to tweak his own actions in favour of reaching a desired conclusion.And this desire for results is what sways us from our path of honesty and devotion. This desire, pulls us away from God, and thrusts us into the arms of Maya. And that is where all our unhappiness and sadness originates, from Maya. Imagine for a moment, a day, where we act without desire, wants or fear. Our aim being to act honestly, do complete justice to our duties, and nothing more, nothing else. How easy would our life be, how very simple! All our misdeeds, all our mistakes, originate from our want, our desire for a result, a 'happy ending'. A student would cheat on an exam because he desires good scores, an athlete would use drugs to enhance performance, because he wants to win, or in more everyday life, a child would deny an act of misdemeanor to the parents to escape the consequences attached to it, and so it goes on. If our focus is on the act we are committing itself, rather than expectations of results to be gained from it, we would do complete justice to our duties, and carry out our acts with complete honesty.  A child would love and treat his parents with respect, without expecting appreciation and inheritances. A student would follow his teacher's instructions without hoping to gain something from it. And as we focus on our work, do it with complete dedication and honesty, how will God, not shower us with anything, but the very best of results. But a desire for getting things, is what makes us commit mistakes, sway away from the path of righteousness. And each time the chasm between the right and wrong increases.What starts as, just a small step out of line, builds with time to form a different path altogether, and its a bottomless pit we fall into, sucked by desire. As desire controls our every action, and work, we no longer care about righteousness, or honesty, and thus every act of ours becomes impure and dishonest, leading us to receive, all that is wrong and undesirable. But we are too blinded by our wants, to realise how far away we have come from our original course, and how deeply we have fallen into the pit of wants and desires.

Never act with an eye on the result, nor consider yourself to be the cause of a result. We should not build an ego, assuming that we have achieved results, nor should we perform our duties expecting a desired result. However we cannot use this as an excuse for inaction either. We can't develop a line of thought, where we think, we do not desire any result, and hence we need not perform any act either. What we need, is complete faith and devotion to God, know that He will give us the best, better than what we can imagine, why need we then worry for results, when He is there, taking care of me, providing me with the very best. And with that in mind, we can perform all our acts with true dedication and honesty, and find joy in doing our work, free our mind from the complications of expectations, and results, and just do our deeds with joy and happiness in our hearts and minds. It is like being a little child, who keeps repeating a newly learnt song or rhyme again and again, for the simple joy of it, not expecting any reward or appreciation. But the parents will always shower him with love and appreciation. And thus we should focus on our work, not find excuses to avoid our duties, nor work only for the expectation of results.

A simple philosophy, which can completely free us from the misery of expectations, demands, wants and justification. Find pleasure in what we do, and we will not remain wanting for anything at all.

Sadguru Shree Aniruddharpanamastu||

 

 

 

If They Answer Not To Your Call, Walk Alone

There is a famous Bengali Song, written and composed by none other, than the great Rabindranath Tagore, which goes like this,

" যদি তোর ডাক শুনে কেউ না আসে তবে একলা চলো রে"
 'Jodi Tor Daak shune keyu Naa Aashe tobe Akla Cholo Re......'

Which basically means,

If they answer not to your call walk alone

Indeed, if we don't hear our own heart's calling, who will? How often do we give in, to bow to public expectations, social expectations? This song, comes from a time, when India was fighting hard to get rid of the cruel and immoral British colonists, the time to overthrow them was near, and the song encouraged people to follow their hearts, and join the fight, even if those around them did not. But to me, its message holds true in nearly every situation of life. I am sharing with you, here the English translation of this song,  by Tagore himself.

If they answer not to your call walk alone

If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,

O thou unlucky one,

open your mind and speak out alone.

If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,

O thou unlucky one,

trample the thorns under thy tread,

and along the blood-lined track travel alone.

If they shut doors and do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,

O thou unlucky one,

with the thunder flame of pain ignite your own heart,

and let it burn alone.

It is often in life, that friends, family or society will not join us when we call out to them, and then it is upto us to decide, if we wish to follow our heart, or simply fall back because, we have no one to join us. I hate to fall back, that is not to say, that I do not do it, but that, I don't like myself for being a coward at those times in my life. If a man does not have the courage of his own convictions, what does he have? There was a time when I would incite people into believing what I did, I would incessantly pursue them, but I have learnt better, as I have grown older, and hopefully wiser. I have greater courage now to follow my own heart, even if I stand alone, and I try my very best to not give in. And it gives me a satisfaction, like nothing else would. I try not to hurt my loved ones, in this pursuit, I try to explain my position to them, but no longer do I persuade them to join me.

The fact is, that nothing else is with me, as is God. No one is with me, as is He. And I can cheat everyone, even myself , but not Him. The best bit about remembering this at all times is, I am always inspired to do good, I am spurred to be better than what I am, everything that I am motivated to do will be positive and moral. What my heart tells me to do, approved by my own conscience, can never be wrong.

This does not apply, only to the big things in life, like a protest march, or standing up to a bully all alone, when everyone else backs off, and it usually means getting beaten up, but also the smaller things in life, like not picking up a drink or a cigarette, even when everyone around me is. Being an ex-pat in a country, whose culture is so very different from my roots, this song could pretty much be my life anthem. No, not because, I want to stand apart, because, I love Australia and want to be a part of it very much, but, because, I also want to hold on to things that are precious to me from my own roots, things that I believe are good and positive parts of what I have learnt in my life, growing up. And I believe in our lives, we have all experienced situations, where we either give in, or we follow our heart.  I have done both at different occasions, but now, I try to hold on and walk with pride on the path I have chosen for myself. It is not easy, but the thing to remember, is, that it is not a war. If I believe in it, I do it, but that does not in anyway mean, having animosity or malice towards those who wish not to join me. Just as I expect others to respect my choice, it is but, my duty, to first respect their's.

This beautiful saying from the Holy Bible, says, that once we are calm and still, we are indeed one with God. And this stillness can only be achieved in solitude. Isn't it simply wonderful to be with God, and follow the path with Him, rather than anyone else at all. It is in calmness, we can find our true course, our conscience. If we follow the others, we follow their path, not ours. Each of us is unique, and has a distinct path set for us, but it is often in our herd mentality, we ignore it, and blindly follow or join in. It is upto us indeed, to know ourselves and have faith to follow our own path, even if we do it alone. If we are fortunate, we will find support from friends and family, if not, we must stand up and do what we know from within is right!


Leaving you with this beautiful renedition of the song .

सद्गुरु  श्री अनिरुद्धार्पणमस्तु ॥

The Cone Of Me

Its a world filled with the 'self'. My wish, my wants, my choice, my desires, my freedom, words and phrases we are bombarded with constantly, everything with an I, me or my. Its almost like living in isolation in a crowd. For all the 'my's we have, as people we still seek the warmth of genuine human affection at all times. Some seek it from a close circle, some from more, but the simple fact is, we all need it. And the more We solidify the cone of isolation, the worse we get, and the more we seek love.

Everybody wants the freedom to be themselves, why then do they seek approval. The biggest angst people have is disapproval of 'others'. Others who are a very micro unit of the very society that these people think is orthodox/intolerant/unfair and more. It is because what we truly seek, not just a show of approval, but a genuine warmth from our fellow human beings. And its possibly the easiest thing to give and receive. But mind you, we must first give, in order to receive. We need to care, shed the I, and absorb the us, the them, the others. As a very simple example, I may wish to wear a certain outfit, its my wish, my want. But I also know that it is not what I am expected to wear at that place, or as per the culture. Now I can say 'My Body, my wish', wear it anyways, and then sit and grumble about people being judgmental, or I may simply choose to wear that outfit to a more suitable location later. This act, does not in any way make me weak, but rather shows my strength of character, in the fact, that I respect others, and care for them, their sensibilities, thus becoming a better person, and thus automatically attracting the same from others. But how often do we choose the latter. Its one of the rarest of our choices. What is worse is, it is often just an excuse to be selfish. Our fight against the world is often, nothing but our desire to do only what pleases us, not having to spend an iota of effort thinking about others, and then blaming them for not accepting us. While it may begin with the outer world, it soon seeps into our personal relationships and acts as poison. If we are all about 'me', and never about the 'other', how can any relationship survive.

Pseudo feminists are the worst of the lost. They irk me, more than I can ever express in words. Not only are they self-centred quacks, pretending to be fighting for a cause, what is worse is, they actually dilute the real issues facing women. There are women fighting against domestic violence, or female foeticide, while the pseudo feminist wonders, why she cannot wear next to nothing and walk completely drunk on the streets, in the middle of the night and feel safe. Its a simple thing, if you don't care about others, they don't care about you either.

This obsession with the 'I', spreading like a virus across the world, scares me. And I wonder how and why we are all so absorbed by it. No one talks about caring about the people, our society, the sensibilities of the world, the community. Social rules and sensibilities exist for a reason, the simple one being, that it helps maintain an equilibrium, often the fear of society prevents us from doing something wrong, unethical.Imagine a society without any moral or ethical code. That is what I think we are heading for, where everyone wants their own way, defending whatever it is they want to do, in the name of rights and individuality.

Is this the product of a world moving away from God.,the ultimate epitome of selflessness? The One who gives, protects and loves all and one. The One who through practice teaches us, to give, share and care. No matter in which form we call Him or believe in Him, He is the one who gives and cares without expecting anything other than love.Why then do we not learn that, why are we moving from being self-centred to self-obsessed? May we all learn to give and be more considerate. Love others, and adjust a tiny bit to accommodate some happiness for others. Let us share joy and happiness, not strife and anger. Give a little, Live a little I say!