On Happiness, Need and Conflicts - SN Balagangadhara

Insightful paper from one of the greatest philosopher I have known so far. SN Balagangadhara. Full paper here. How important is to teach these to our kids?! These were once ingrained in our culture, in our day to day conversations, but now that culture is slowly fading away. I remember my grand mother and grand father saying things like "I have to die without any desire" in casual conversations, it was once honourable to desire less,  but now it's frowned upon. 

When I desire Armani clothes or a burger, I do not have desires for these particular objects. What I do have is just one ‘Desire’ that attaches itself now to Armani clothes and then to the burger. Our desire for multiple objects does not show that we have many desires but shows, instead, that it is merely one and the same: Desire attaching itself to different objects. The limitlessness of our desires does not have anything to do with the limitless number and variety of objects in the world but with the fact that Desire has no intrinsic goal or object. That is why Desire cannot be satisfied: nothing can satisfy it.

To make this notion of Desire perspicuous, let me use an economic metaphor. The Desire that the Indian traditions talk about is like Money. Money is singular, there are no plural monies. Money can become wages, savings, profits, financial capital, Industrial capital, mercantile capital, money-lending capital, or merely something we exchange for some commodity or another. Money can take the form of various currencies, shares, gold, a hoard or any other commodity. Money can buy anything because it is indifferent to what it is exchanged against. According to Indian traditions, Desire is like Money: it is limitless; it has no intrinsic object as its goal; it can be accumulated in any form, quantity or degree and, thus, can attach itself to any object. 

More  from the paper - 

Actually, Indian traditions make a much more radical claim: Desire attaches itself to human mind too, the way it attaches itself to other objects. Such a stance coheres with their notion of Desire, of course. If indeed, as Indians claim, Desire is indifferent to what it attaches itself to and can cling to any object whatsoever, why should human mind be an exception to that? Not only that. These traditions should also claim, whether implicitly or explicitly, that even though Desire has the power to attach itself to any object, it is also possible for us to learn how to circumvent Desire even though we cannot ‘fight’ it. I submit that the Indian traditions do so explicitly as well.   

Book Review: Osamu Tezuka's Buddha, Vol. 1 - Kapilavastu

 I have mixed feelings about this book!

I had this book for quite sometime and tried to read this multiple times in the past, but failed to make progress beyond a couple of pages because of the utter ignorance of author on all things related to India and her traditions. The first time I opened the book, I saw "Aryans" and "Invasion" and I promptly underlined the text and wrote - "Dude, there were no Aryans!" and tossed the book aside. Osamu Tezuka might be the finest Manga creator out there, but he displays shocking lack of understanding of the India of Siddhartha's time, the "caste system" and the hierarchy which makes a recurring appearance throughout this volume, how people dressed etc. You could simply replace the (mostly) Indian sounding names with random Roman alternatives, and the setting will probably make more sense. There is slavery, buying and selling of slaves, processions of accused on the roads with crowd booing - kind of like a medieval action drama. There are also characters that randomly call out "O Indra, may your great wrath and mercy be the judge.." as if Indra was Zeus.

Thanks to a long weekend, I wanted something to read on an idle afternoon. I decided to keep these misgivings aside and approach this as just another fiction story without any adhyatmic (spiritual, for the lack of a better word) or "historic" significance - and I must say that I was able to enjoy reading it. I am new to Manga and this was a great introduction to Osamu Tezuka's works. Some of the scenes Osamu depicts are just visual poetry. I never knew that one could convey so much with strokes black ink on a white canvas. I liked the overall book enough to make me search for the rest of Osamu's works!

So to summarize - don't read this book if you want to understand Buddha and his teachings. The author is a confused soul in this department, but if you want playful and sometimes stunning artwork with a good story and humor, go for it! 

వంగిపోతున్న దేశానికి నింగి ఎత్తు వెన్నెముక

కలల రక్తానాళాల్లో రక్తం కాదు
భావితరాల కోసం బలైన ప్రాణాలు
ప్రవహిస్తున్నాయి!
వంగిపోతున్న దేశానికి నింగి ఎత్తు
వెన్నెముక
నిర్మించే పండగలో పాల్గొంటున్నాయి
జాతి బాహువులకు కండరాలై
ఛాతీకిరువైపులా
నిలవడానికి పరుగులెత్తుతున్నాయి...

-- శేషేంద్ర, వచ్చింది ఓట్ల ఋతువు 

ఇది దేశమా లేక కంఠపాశమా
అరే
ఈ మట్టికోసం బలి అయిపోయిన
ఆత్మల సమాధుల మీద
గడ్డి కూడా మొలవదు ఇక్కడ
రాజకీయ నాయకుడు ఇరుసుగా
తిరుగుతోంది పత్రికల భూగోళం
భూగోళం మీద కడుపుతో
పాకుతోంది చీమల్లాంటి కవీంద్రజాలం
కనుకనే నీవు కవుల్ని చూస్తున్నావు శేషేన్!
గడ్డి పరకల్ని చూచినట్లు తుఫాన్.

-- శేషేంద్ర

Dear Krishna deva...

antakaale cha maameva smaranmuk{}tvaa kalevaram.h . 
yaH prayaati sa madbhaavaM yaati naastyatra sa.nshayaH

                                                                -- Chapter 8, Bhagavad Gita

"One who remembers me at the moment of death. relinquishing the body ascends and achieves My nature. There is certainly no doubt about this"

Dear Krishna deva,

Are you saying that I can lie, steal, whore, kill, use facebook and I can get away with all these with just a shoutout from deathbed? I heard about all the kinky stuff you did at Repalle; gopikas, wives and all that stuff but I didn't know you were such a narcissist!

Steve Jobs

An artist who happened to be a CEO. Great man!

When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It’s the truth.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.

Source

The Dilbert Principle - Idiocy

Everyone is an idiot, not just people with low SAT scores. The only difference among us is that we're idiots about different things at different times. No matter how smart you are, you spend much of your day being an idiot

I proudly include myself in the idiot category, Idiocy in the modern age isn't an all-encompassing, twenty-four-hour situation for most people. Its a condition that everybody slips into many times a day. Life is just too complicated to be smart all the time.

another one..

I blame sex and paper for most of our current problems. Here's my logic: Only one person in a million is smart enough to invent a printing press. So when society consisted of only a few hundred apelike people living in caves, the odds of one of them being a genius were fairly low. But people kept having sex, and with every moron added to the population, the odds of a deviant smart-pants slipping through the genetic net higher and higher. When you've got several million people running around having sex all willy-nilly, the odds are faily good that some pregnant ape-mom is going to squat in a field someday and pinch out a printing-press-making deviant

Shall I sing?

 Something amazing just happened! something really amazing!!

I never count myself to be a decent singer. I wanted to become many things when I was a kid, from astronomer to the president of India and a singer is definitely one of them. For some reason that only you know and you can never express, you seemed uncomfortable with the world around you today. You were crying. Your mother couldn't control you. I tried a million things to grab your attention and you gave that yeah-I see-the-point-but-I-dont-care look!

And then Ilayaraja came to my mind. I started singing that song from Swati Mutyam - "vatapatra saayiki varahaala laali" - your mother has always been critical of my singing abilities, but you my son, some how found it so amusing that you stopped crying! Now you can imagine, that would have given me the much needed pat on the back. I continued singing and you slowly fell asleep!

You don't even know where to focus when you look at stuff, I am not quite sure whether you hear things and whether they make any sense to you. But I would like tho think that you heard my song, loved it and fell asleep. Imagination is sometimes better than reality. You'll know this when you grow up! :)

I googled around a bit and I found that the lyricist was C.Narayana Reddy whom I don't consider a poet at all!This is called Irony.  In fact, I hate this guy Narayana Reddy and his writings..  I know I shouldn't be teaching hatred to you, but such is this world. Get used to it!

వాల్మీకి సౌందర్య సింధువు

 పిపీలికాది బ్రహ్మ పర్యంతమైన సృష్టిలో వాల్మీకి జ్ఞాన నేత్ర పరిధిలో రానిది ఏదీ లేదు. గుడిసె తెలుసు, మహలు తెలుసు, మద్య మాంస మహిళామయ ప్రపంచం అంతా తెలుసు. కన్నీళ్ళు తెలుసు, కఠోర క్రూరత తెలుసు, యుద్ధాలు తెలుసు, విలాసాలు తెలుసు, పాందిత్యం తెలుసు పామరత్వం తెలుసు, రాజకీయాలు తెలుసు, రుషిత్వం తెలుసు, వేట తెలుసు, పాట తెలుసు; ఇది తెలుసు ఇది తెలియదు అని చెప్పడానికి వీలు లేదు. జ్ఞానంచేత ఆశ్చర్యం కల్గించే సర్వజ్ఞుడు! వాల్మీకి సౌందర్య సింధువు 

కానీ వాల్మీకి ఎలాటివాడో మనమెరుగము. అతని కాలంలో ఉండి సమీపవర్తులమై అతన్ని మన రాగ ద్వేషాలకు గురిచేసి మనం అతన్ని ఏమాత్రమూ అర్థం చేసుకోగలిగి ఉండేవారము కాదు. ఎందురు క్షుద్రులు ఆయన్ని కవి కాదన్నారో! ఎందరు క్షుద్రులు ఆనాటి రాజులకు భట్రాజులై ప్రతిష్ట పొంది వాల్మీకిని అనాదరణ పాలుచేసారో!ఎందరు క్షుద్రులు తామే మహా కవులమని ఆశ్రయకళా మహిమచేత ఆయన్ని అధికార మందిరాల్లోకి అడుగు పెట్టనీలేదో, అప్పుడు మనం ఉండి ఉంటే అదంతా నిజమని నమ్మేవాళ్లం. మంచిదే అయింది. మనం ఆయన రక్త మాంసాకృతి ఎరిగిన వాళ్లంగాక ఆయన అక్షరాకృతిని ఎరిగినవాళ్లమయ్యాము. అందుచేతనే ఆయనెవ్వరో గుర్తించగలిగాము. కవి పుస్తకంలోనికి ప్రవేశించే ముందు మనం మన పాదరక్షలను ద్వారం దగ్గరే విడిచి వినీత మనస్కులమై ప్రవేశించాలని తెలుసుకోగలిగాము.

శేషేన్ - రక్తరేఖ

My Dearest...

 My dearest,

First of all, how should I address you? unborn? yet-to-be-born? Oh well, how unfitting these words are, how harsh the sounds associated with them. They don't do justice to a thing as tender and beautiful as you are. Till you and I invent  a better sound and stuff all our unspeakable emotions into it, let me just call you 'baby'.

Baby, I was told today you are now roughly my right hand's thumb size and you are sucking your thumb. Come to think of it,  a thumb sized baby sucking its thumb. If this isn't magical, then what is? 

I could almost sense your heartbeat. May be I am hallucinating, may be I *want* to hear your heartbeat. I could also sense that you're having one hell of a time inside your little amniotic sac, your home - moving here and there. I tried to distract you many times - but you don't seem to notice. Well, I gave up. Following you is more satisfying!  :)

Love

Naanna. 

On writing

It has been a couple of hours since I opened this window in the hope of writing something. I thought all the tempests that rage within would find a voice, finally. I thought all that unclear imagery and silent violins in my mind would flow through my fingers in perfect symphony to create scintillating prose - so that I can read it for myself and be amused. Its like that beautiful childhood where you made your own toys, played when you wanted to and destroyed when you felt like. Oh! what a dream! 

All dreams are just that - they are either your past or they are just dreams. So it is with me. The unclear images continue to haunt - silent violins continue to play - and I continue with the the hope that one day I can write something! Language fails me! May be its the other way around.  

Who will come with me?

With wind and weather beating toward me
Up to the hill and moor land I go
Who will come with me? Who will climb with me?
Wade through the brook and tramp through the snows?

I am the lord of tempest and mountain
I am the spirit of freedom and pride
Stark must he be and a kibsman to danger
Who shares my kingdom and walks at my side

-- AUROBINDO

శేషేంద్రజాలం

నీవు కాలేజికి పోతుంటే బాబూ
నిన్ను పొలాలు బిక్కమొహంతో చూస్తున్నాయి
నీవు కాలేజి గోడల్లోకి పోతావు
అక్కడ్నించి గవర్నమెంటు గోడల్లోకి పోతావు
ఆ తర్వాత ఎప్పుడూ ఎవ్వరూ
తిరిగిరాని గోడల్లోకి పోతావు
ఇక నీవు బ్రతికిందెప్పుడు?
బాబూ! నీ చిన్ని కన్నీటి బిందువులో
ఏ సముద్రం గర్జిస్తోందో నాకు తెలుసు
అందుకే చెట్లతో మొరపెట్టుకుంటున్నాను
ఆకులు కాదు తుపాకులు కాయండని-

ఇది రాసి ఎన్నేళ్ళయిందోగాని ఇప్పటికీ పరిస్థితుల్లో మార్పేమీ లేదు. అప్పుడు గవర్నమెంటు గోడల్లోకి, ఇప్పుడు అమెరిక కలల్లోకి...

*********

బేటావాడ్ని మాత్రం నమ్మకు
వాడు జెండాలెగరేసే దొంగ
నీళ్ళున్నచోటికి ఎగిరిపోయే కొంగ
ఉదయకిరణాలు పోలీసుల్లా
వెదుకుతున్నాయి ఏదో తీవ్రంగా
పాపం వాటికి తెలీదు
రక్తకణాల్లో దాక్కొ ఉన్న దొంగల్ని
రాష్ట్రపతి కూడా పట్టుకోలేడు.

**********

ఒరే! ఈ దేశం మీకేమిచ్చింది?

వంకరటింకర్లుగా ఒంగే దేహం

బానిసత్వం మీద వ్యామోహం

మీరెగరేశే జెండా మీకేమిచ్చింది?

ఐదేళ్లకొకసారి ఓట్లు

ఆ మధ్యలో కునికిపాట్లు!

*********

Twitter

But to see the market as stagnating you have to overlook the 800 pound gorilla running around the room throwing things all over the place. Twitter. We’re using it every day. If you follow more than a few dozen people you miss tweets all the time, and so what. Twitter doesn’t tell you how many you didn’t read because it doesn’t matter. If it’s important it will come back around again. If not, well no one can know everything.

Twitter found a way to put both the authoring tool and the reading tool on the home page. Had I cracked that nut in 2002, Twitter might have happened a few years earlier.

From thenextweb

Twitter's creator, I am sure, did not intend any of this while designing the initial product. All he did was to create a useless, unimaginative tool which makes you think you are so important in the universe - every damn thing you do, every fricking thought that passes through your mind, no matter how inconsequential is worth broadcasting.

Orkut is one such tool which does exactly that- allow you to tell a story, allow you to show off stuff and feel good about yourself. Orkut already being a huge hit with Indian youth, I wonder why twitter is not so popular in India yet. Like many other things, looks like Indians are not good at being narcissistic too. Damn!

Common India, upgrade yourself to ultra sophisticated version of vanity! Use twitter/Facebook.

Avatar

My five year old cousin took James Cameron's Avatar rather seriously. He goes to the balcony every now and then, looks at the sky and shouts "kooo...hooo...hooo..", waving both hands as if he is mocking at some imaginary creature, and patiently waits for the yellow dragon (don't know what they call it in the movie) to come!

Failure of his repeated attempts at pleasing the Yellow Dragon doesn't seem to have dampened his spirits. He tries again and again experimenting with different ways of shouting, "troooo...hoooo", "yeee..haaaaa" etc., That was funny!


Btw, I watched Avatar in Telugu. Watching Pandora people talk Srikakulam Telugu (ఈ ఆడకూతుర్ని నువ్వే కాపాడాలి తల్లా..) was like eating ice cream and aavakaya simultaneously!

Random Nonsense

I am a fireball. I consume *myself* and produce fire.
I am older than 'birth' itself. From time immemorial I existed and through the eternities to come, I will.
The fire that burns me and the play of fireworks, are eternal.

Do you buy the above story? If I were you, I wouldn't.
Why bother about eternity dude, Its raining outside and the earth's aroma is enigmatic.

So there! I am just another inconsequential being; just like that raindrop that kissed the earth and vanished!