Akshardham - Atithi Devo Bhavah

Few months ago in Gangotri, i met Fabrice who is from france. We trekked together for three days and became good friends. He has lived an extremely adventurous life and would need a seperate book to describe all what he has done. Just to give a hint , he spent 6 long months among the nomads in Ladakh. Other travels are equally crazy. I hope he writes soon about it.

Since we both were in Delhi , we decided to meet again and visit Akshardham together. From past experience i was aware that Akshardham is heavily crowded during weekends and if you can weekdays are best to go for finishing everything soon. 

We reached Akshardham and due to normal rush quickly finished all security checks and i started showing him the place. Its marvellously developed and more than than 12 million man hours of 900 skilled craftsmen have created this magnificent monument. The sanctum sanctorum of temple is extremely beautiful and mind stops to wonder at the beauty of the place. I dont remember having seen any more beautiful architecture in my life.

We passed through sahajanand which was an exhibition on goal of life as portrayed by Neelkantha ji, the founder of Swami Narayan sect. Neelkantha ji's life details have been presented using the latest modern technologies and creativity. It appears that events portayed are happening in the front of the viewer. 

We soon passed through India exhibition, where details of contribution of India are beautifully portrayed. In not so recent past, India had mastered the art of surgery and had many world renowned universities like Nalanda and Takshashila. Again full marks to the creativity in their portrayal. 

The star attaraction of the place was the evening water show and upanishadic story. Using ultra modern technolgy the show is intricately designed. Fabrice explaimed that its the best water show he has seen till date. I overheard an american too saying he has seen nothing like it. I approached him and explained soon the significance of the upanishadic story which was portrayed in the water show.

When both the american tourist and my french friend fabrice exclaimed that have seen nothing like it, i was a proud host. We have enough places of glories to become a world's tourist attraction but its sad that they have not been portrayed well. What Akshardham has done can be reciprocated in major tourist cities to make experience of India more lovable and remarkable for tourists who visit India. Whenever i meet tourists from abroad and i have met many, i try to follow the ancient teaching of atithi devo bhavah i.e, guest is God. Once while travelling with an israeli couple and on realising the boy was sick, i arranged in the bus so that he can sleep. Days later i received a mail of thanks from them. 

True potential of India is much more than can be imagined today. I am sure the words of Swami Vivekananda of India becoming a vishwa Guru will be realised one day and each one of us has to play a part in that. India is not just a country, its a consciousness. And i belive that unless you connect with spiritual India, you have not seen much about India. Just one last thing to one who is reading the blog, any day if you are feeling depressed or sad or are unsure about your life, spend a day in Akshardham and you are sure to feel better.
  
#IncredibleIndia 

About the supremely powerful one - Time

Many of those who thought world will not run without them are below the grave today, yet the world is running. The political bigwig who once controlled the political destiny of India, for whose son even Prime minister said i am ready to work under leadership of your son.  And Union ministers used to curry favour by calling her as “Desh ki Maa” and when her son in law was attacked, he was fiercely defended by every political member seeking elevation. Who figured among the topmost powerful women of the world. Today she was humbled by court and has been released on bail on charges of corruption and forgery. 

Man deludes himself and considers himself as all powerful and all controlling yet time humbles all. Women who are proud of their beauty are humbled by time. Men proud of their physique and intelligence are humbled by time. Kings become paupers and paupers are too seen to become kings. 

What to say of normal humans even continents move in time. What is Asia today was attached to Africa once in time. What is Sahara today the greatest desert was once a fertile land with rivers. Once a flourishing city Dwarika today lies submerged under sea.

We are born in time and vanish in time. We know nothing about our existence before birth and not know what will happen after death. They say earth was created 4.6 billion years ago. Time existed then too. If we can go back till infinity in time ( which logically we can) then even our existence is in doubt. More one tries to understand time , more one is confounded. 

Whenever man sings in conceit
Among all only i can do this feat

Time smiles and says my dear son
in Past you cried and said i cant run

you said, you must be a wretched fool
but then I knew, you will also rule

Today you again hop and sing
But till when is next suffering


Since eternity time is keeping watch
He is the watch, He is the watch

Many will come in future as they came in past
In the flow of time is moving our raft

From whence i came and where will i go
Its a great mystery and i dont know

Who else can make diamond from coal
O time, you play a powerful role.

You are not born in past yet you exist
I try hard but can't see through this mist

Realization on Delhi Bus - Importance of Education

Fresh in Delhi after staying for many years in Europe i was completely relying on the metro system for travel. Metro system of delhi has better frequency than any rail systems i have seen in world be it of Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Vienna or Budapest. I think our metro system is among the best in world and i found that colour identification of route has been taken from Italy(Milan).

Nevertheless to feel at home, I decided to explore the bus system also :-) . Although metro was available i queried for the bus for my route and soon boarded it. Bus was fairly crowded and was barely able to move and was stuck around conductor seat. Had recently got some food coupons from my company and they were in my pocket along with one ten rupee bill. With great difficulty i purchased a ticket for Rs 5 and kept ticket and change(coins) in pent pocket. I asked something about the route from a traveller but he looked perturbed and didn't reply anything which was strange. They were around 3-4 people together and deboarded at next stop. 

Some time later after many people had deboarded and bus was somewhat less occupied, i noticed some papers on bus floor. On closer look i found that they were the food coupons i had in my pocket. I picked them from the floor and found all to be intact. I was able to connect the dots now. The person whom i had enquired was actually a picpocketer. With his one hand he was holding the railing and with the other hand on his chest hidden behind the other hand he emptied my shirt's pocket. However after fleecing my shirt he found just worthless papers and threw them on bus floor with disgust. Wish i had some currency notes too so that he would not have thought me as Kangla (One with no money :P ). Since it was morning i wasted his “boni” too :) (No english word for it, Its a belief in rural India that if your first task is failure you will meet failure the whole day). 

However if he was educated and would have known that using food coupons he could have got excellent food or could have even sold them for money. He had the skills of theft but no education and he lost this deal. I feel sorry for you dear friend. Wish i had some currency notes for you :). Anyways get educated and leave this profession :-)

P.S : Some afterthoughts.
1. If you realise that you are being fleeced in Delhi buses dont react impatiently. They are in group and may attack you. Just move away from them and raise alarm.








 

Perception depends on perceiver

17 Dec 2015 - Delhi : 
Whatever you believe you start seeing that thing outside. How many times it has happened with you that you expect a question to come in exam and during the exam you end up misunderstanding a question(due to you trying to expect something). If something is going on in your mind, you answer it on that basis and not on what the person has asked.

Last night before  sleeping i set up an alarm to wake up early morning at 4 am and the last thought that i had was to wake up at 4 am on hearing the alarm. Soon in time Alarm rang, and in half sleep stage (when my consciousness is still in dream world and yet to become aware of the visible world) i dismissed the alarm. I was feeling tired and decided to sleep a little more. I looked at time and it was 4 am. I remained in bed and decided to sleep a little more. Woke up after some time and looked at my digital watch it said the time as 4.45 am.  My roommate in next room was awake and it was unusual as he normally wakes up at 9 AM. Did he not sleep the whole night ? Unusually today i was feeling tired and decided to use the bathroom. While using the bathroom i checked my mobile and saw the time as 11 pm. OMG .. what has happened ? I was shocked. I came to know then the alarm bell i wake up to was actually a call from a friend which i had dismissed and the time i saw later was a projection of my mind which wanted to believe it was 4. I only saw the minute part of digital watch and made up the hour part. i.e 11.45 became 4.45. 

Now look at this image and see the train will follow your expectations. Direction of train will depend upon your desire and way of looking.



Did you get it ? If not please try again.

Sometime i wonder if everything that we see is influenced by our way of perception. If perception depends upon perceiver , what is this world? Is this world really Maya as the vedantic scriptures declare. One sees pleasure in something while other finds pain in the same thing. Pleasure appears in sense objects yet no one is happy in the world after seeking sensual objects. Vedanta declares that when we fix the perceiver , perception becomes perfect. (Jaisi Drishti Vaisi Srishti)

A story connected with Akbar and Birbal is worth sharing here, 

One day the Emperor Akbar saw a woman hugging and kissing a very dark, ugly and unattractive child. He was very surprised to see that. He thought and thought but could not think why? He asked Birbal that why she was doing that to such an unattractive child. Birbal replied innocently, “Huzoor, he must have been her own child. For every mother her own child is the most beautiful child in the world.” 

The Emperor did not seem to be convinced with this explanation, and Birbal had guessed this from the Emperor’s face. Next day, in the presence of the Emperor, Birbal ordered a Guard to present the most beautiful child in the world in the court. Next day, the Guard brought a more unattractive and ugly child with buck teeth and his hair stood like a porcupine and presented to the Emperor. “This is the most beautiful child in the world, Your majesty.” the Guard stammered.

The Emperor asked, “How do you know that he is the most beautiful child in the world?” “Your Majesty, I went home and posed my problem to my wife. She told me to bring our child to the court.” the Guard replied meekly.

P.S : Regarding the friend who called from today onwards i will consider him as close friend as only a close friend can disturb so late -:). 

Opposition's opposition for the sake of opposition

Opposition has a pertinent role in a democracy and is part of checks and balances of democracy. However today the role of opposition has been reduced to opposing anything the government is doing. This has caused huge loss to India as important legislations like GST, Electricity Bill, Real Estate Regulation bill are pending to be passed.

Parliament session is on verge of being wiped out and huge taxpayer money is at stake, as each minute of running Parliament in sessions costs Rs 2.5 lakh.

Parliament's principal purpose is to debate , discuss and legislate on laws which affect the whole country. While the responsibility of passing the legislations lies with the government in power, the responsibility to behave in national interest lies with individual members who are each representing a part of India.

It appears opposition wants to stop all development so that they can later claim that ‪#‎AccheDin‬ never came. It might work for them but will decelerate India and we wont allow this to happen.

Citizens came out today protesting against the opposition's “opposition for the sake of opposition” and participated in ‪#‎SansadChalneDo‬ or‪#‎LetParliamentRun‬ march today to make their point. I hope our legislators listen and parliament is able to do its business.

If there has to be intolerance let it be towards corruption.
#LetParliamentRun #SansadChalneDo

Dream like nature of Reality

Yesterday night i slept at 10 o clock with the thought of getting up at 3 am. I struggled to sleep and later ended up postposing the alarm to 3.30 to be able to complete my 5 hr sleep. I had to do early morning mediation and accounted thus for bus to be caught at 5am.

I saw something in night that i was in some strange city and and lost my bag. I was reacting and acting in the same manner i do while during the day. Later somehow i found my bag but my purse which contained my currency collection was not to be found. I was bewildered as it contained lot of money including high value currency notes from Europe. Somehow a doubt arose to me then that i have the purse with me now and while in dream i realised that its a dream. I soon woke up and i was surprised that it was 3 am sharp(Remember i wanted to wake up at 3 am and alarm was set up at 3.30 am). My physical body had run for 2.30 hrs yesterday yet i woke up when my mind wanted. Mysterious are the ways of the mind.

What if i realise someday that what i am watching today is also a dream. Anyways in the infinite time my life is even smaller than a drop. Whatever can be measured stands no place when compared to immeasureable. Vast stretch of space and time are immeasurable infinity. Whatever a man watches and things that he possesses them including even his body are lost when he leaves his body. Its certain that someday what is seen and imagined to be possessed by me shall not be there. This visible world looks similar to the dream world in this respect. Both the visible world and dream world appear for a finite time. One lasts for few hours and the other for hours in waking. Against infinite times they both stand no chance.

Also sometimes dream during night is created due to objects from visible world. Sometimes both are continuous. During the time dream world is experienced one does not realise that this experience can be untrue also, however its only after one wakes up from it that one realises that it was creation of his mind. This belief in reality of visible world is also true and whether it will be untrue after one leaves his body or dies is a matter of speculation.

In dream too one imagines the sorrow, suffering and happiness on experiencing the dream world. Similar experiences are had when during experiencing the visible world. Am i acting in dream ? Or i am merely witnessing. Although i act in the same manner in dream as i would be acting during waking state. The objects that come in dream although are not in my control and even in this visible world objects that are seen are not in my control and seem to have independent existence. Both the dream world and visible world are similar in this respect.

Is this visible world too a dream ? I dont know but one thing is certain a something obtained during dream world can't be carried to the visible world , it is seen that man even leaves his body when he leaves this planet. Although deliberations like these do not add any new knowledge to the jeeva yet jeeva realises on cogitation that what he considers so important are actually not important. Indian philosophy has thus declared that Dharma is of supreme importance and is only carried with the jeeva. Therefore some ancient Indians gave all but didn't give up Dharma(righteousness) as it can survive even the waking state.

Yato Dharma Tato Jaya

Human race  or even higher set of animal race or even higher set of living beings including plants, since time immemorial have always desired to be happy. Man desires to have more money so that he can secure his future and also flaunt his possessions. Flaunting his wealth is also a concept which he has linked to happiness. Desire for fame, power and women  also have happiness as their root cause. Whatever be the activity of mankind , search for happiness is reason behind it. 

HAPPINESS IS A CONCEPT
However one very interesting thing about happiness is that it follows your expectations. As a child, one gets happiness through toys. A grown up person with hobbies as stamp collection feels elated on getting rare stamps. A sportman loves when he breaks his own targets. Happiness hence follows expectation. Bhutan a relatively poor country has been found to be amongst the most happiest country in the world. Hence it can be safely said “Happiness is within and is based upon mental concept. We are setting limits to our own happiness”. Sometime getting the perfect girl is happiness and sometime later getting seperated from her is happiness. Happiness is but dependent on concepts that a person has. The soul is described as made of happiness or “Anandam” and yet its a big surprise that how come only few know real happiness. 

WRONG CONCEPTS MAKE YOU MISERABLE
Nevertheless, Man in ignorance has come to believe that getting more money leads to happiness even if it is earned by using foul means. While desire to have more money is natural for most, when wrong means are used it eventually leads to misery. For a wise one who is awake he can see that money earned using wrong means lead to misery from beginning to end. One is always afraid that he might be caught, looses his self respect and it is seen that money using foul means is not respected and leads to corruption of family members. One ends up living a very artifical life on surface. 

A SAD INCIDENT
I am reminded of a story of an IAS officer from Bengal who was involved in chit funds scam and unable to bear pressure of investigation ended up committing suicide. Just imagine what troubles he would have gone through earning money using foul means. Later on protecting that money would have been difficult. His troubles were exacerbated when investigations into the scam were started and day and night he would have thought how to save himself. Day and night pondering on how to save himself might have increased stress until he could take no more and ended up committing suicide. Oh my God, what a sad life. Pain from beginning to end. Just one wrong concept that more money is more happiness and not looking at life holistically made it miserable. 

Living a life with character will earn you something infintely beautiful and that is “Self respect”. When one respects himself he is able to hold his head high and walks with confidence in all circumstances. His eyes have a spark of life. Such a man not only contributes to his well being here and hereafter, he also contributes to emancipation of society. Even after he leaves this earth he is remembered for his good deeds and contribution. He may face some difficulties in standing up to his ideals but very soon he gains strength to overcome all difficulties. Ancient Indians discovered this by observing this though centuries  and declared “Yato Dharma Tato Jaya” i.e “Where there is righteousness there is victory”. Such a wise man eventually discovers about himself and eventually realises “Who he is really”. He automatically lives a life in conformity with all scriptures and has an amazing relationship with himself. 

One should therefore not be moved by temporary temptations and know with the deepest core of his being that where there is dharma there is victory. 

Who is drinking Whom

Few months ago in Germany, i was on travelling spree and Budapest was to be my next destination. It was after work on a friday evening and i reached the bus stand with my lugagge for my next 2 days trip. As there was not much time for a proper dinner i decided to buy some fruit juices and bread to satisfy my hunger. I rushed for the nearby Indian shop and quickly selected my goods and stood at the counter for my turn for billing.

A person was ahead in queue and i remembered the face as familiar one. However i soon dismissed these thoughts and concentrated on on my travel plans and my bus which was to depart in next few minutes. The person ahead of me bought beer (Yes unlike India, Alcohols are sold in local general stores) . When he was being billed he offered all the money in coins of small denominations. Looking at the unique nature of his payment it immediately striked to me that he is the begger who begs near the Frankfurt railway station.

Once the identity of person was clear to me i wondered, this person begs all day and in the evening spends all the money (or a major portion) on alcohol. He tries to emulate an object of pity in order to invoke compassion and in night he uses the money earned in this manner on alcohol. Alcohol today has made him an object of compassion. He thinks he is drinking alcohol but its the alcohol which is actually drinking him. I wondered “Who is drinking whom”.

In India too we have many such people especially in the lower income groups who spend most of their hard earned income. A man toils all day only to fritter away the hard earned money in this manner. Yesterday morning on noticing that my Rikshaw puller was drunk even in early morning i told him, do you know this is harmful for health. He said “Bhaiya sab jaante hain lekin ab chodi nahin jaati” (Sir, everybody knows that it is harmful but i cant leave it now). These habits once acquired dont leave a man easily.( offcourse supreme will power can achieve anything).

Man seeks everything for happiness and he mistakenly believes that alcohol gives him happiness. Some people start acting as life gurus and advice young men to enjoy and drink. However on close look there is no happiness in it. Once one of my friend was heavily drunk and spent his whole night in bathroom vomiting. When i saw him during middle of night, his face was inside bathroom pot. Another one got intense desire to urinate, opened his wardrobe and urinated on his clothes :). I have also seen countless friends promising to never drink again when their head reels in hangover only to realise that they are helpless against this vicious habit.

A person with weak will power remains a slave to his instincts and can not realise the purpose of his human existence and forever remains bound to the world. I would like to ask young men reading this to be aware of the harms of Alcohol. Not only it takes away your hard earned money, it takes something much precious that is your enthusiasm and health. With good health and cheerful mind, my friends you can win the whole world. With control on yourself happiness is yours at all times. 

P.S : This post has not been written with an intention to offend anyone but my intention behind this is to to show the true picture of an alcoholic naked of all glory, that sometimes is imagined. This glorification is especially harmful for my young friends who are the future of my country and also our existence on earth.