Laughter and Spirituality

Every Thursday, there's a cool post from the SV List. Today's post was esp. interesting:

After a difficult journey to Shirdi, the villagers there refused to allow Merwan (Meher Baba) to see Sai Baba. Merwan spent the night under a tree and the following day Sai Baba sent for Merwan. Sai Baba was then seventy-seven years old, white-bearded with a head of snow-white hair, dressed in a white kafni gown. Khodu, an accomplice that was with Merwan, nervously walked up and bowed at Sai Baba's feet and when he did, the old fakir slapped him on the back so hard that it knocked the breath out of him!

Khodu was startled, and then Sai Baba inquired, "Who is your friend? What does he want?". Khodu replied, "His name is Merwan ... Merwan Sheriar Irani; he is very devotional and eagerly desires your darshan, holy one. Babajan, in Poona, has told us about you, Sai". The old fakir's eyes were aflame. "Oh, no!" Sai Baba suddenly cried. "No, I won't ... I won't allow him to see me! I won't let him come!" The old fakir's eyes then gazed upon Khodu and he said, "Give me all your money, all of it!" Khodu did, then Sai Baba said, "Now go and tell your friend I won't see him, he cannot come to me!" Khodu left and reported to Merwan, who shook his head and said, "No!" Let us just wait. I must see him and I will." Later, Sai Baba was on his way after performing his lendi in a field with a large procession following, a band playing and the atmosphere very joyful though at the same time solemn with reverence. Contrary to what Khodu had said, Sai Baba now appeared to be in very good mood. As Sai Baba was about to pass him, Merwan stretched himself full length on the ground in front of his feet. Seeing him in the shashtang namaskar -- bowing at full length to the Master's feet -- in a deep, deep voice as if rising from the very depths of the ocean, Sai Baba uttered one majestic word, the Mohammedan name for Lord Vishnu, "Parvardigar!" -- meaning God-The-Almighty-Susutainer! Sai Baba's eyes were lustrous with universes shining out of them as he conveyed this holy word! The old fakir's lustrous eyes were sending a message to Merwan but to the ignorant, his word was inexplicable. For at the instant when Sai Baba had spoken, Merwan had become all-powerful -- Sai Baba had given him infinite power!

Reading an xp like this would have normally sent me into a high, but for that dratted misspelling:

Susutainer

Almost fell off the chair, rolling in laughter. Immediately, my mind was recalling the silly way that S Nagendranath said "Maruti Susuki" at an IIM.A fest in 1987.

On page 830 of the Gospel, Ramakrishna says:

God talked to me. It was not merely His vision. Yes, He talked to me. Under the banyan-tree I saw Him coming from the Ganges. Then we laughed so much! By way of playing with me He cracked my fingers.

Wonder which is greater: laughter or spirituality. Sometime in June 2004, I was reading in the ToI Sacred Space that the most austere penance is no match to being cheerful :-)

Still chuckling.

Unbridled riddle

Saw this amazing piece in the Outlook review of Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra:

And one of the delights, for this reader at least, is the Bambaiyya Hindi, presented without italics, explanation, or apology: the apradhis, khabaris and pocket-maars, the bhais and boys, the gullels and ghodas, the phataks and phachaks, the kutiyas, chaavvis and randis, the bibis and bhabhis, the [snip], [snip], [snip], the bidhus, budhaus, bhadves and bhadvis, the mausambis and dudh-ki-tankis, the khaddas and golis, the langotiya yaars and bada dushmans, the dhandas and dandis, the thokos and ghochis, the gaandus, namoonas, haramis, saalis and saalas, the lauda lasoons and langda-lullas. These are words that occur so often in Bombay they can be plucked out of the city’s dirty air. But Chandra has done more. He uses them with such unerring gusto that they become celebratory, incantatory, not a code for insiders but something shared, like a song on the radio.

Hymn for Hanlon

or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the CyberMorons

I am sure this has happened to you. Some friend of yours is very eager to know something and pings you on email. His/her enthusiasm/desperation touches you, you give a solid reply, and generally you are feeling good about it. But that's the last you hear from that fiend. There's no Thank You, no nothing.

To handle such cybermorons, this hymn to Hanlon has been composed. You must say it (thrice is good) before you click on the Send:

Dear friend, I am sending you this in good faith. I have slaved over it and hope it helps. If you don't care two hoots about sending a Thank You note, I will excuse you and put it down as yet another case of Hanlon's Razor (Never assume malice when stupidity will suffice).

This is the way I handle the missing missive.

A Snafu A Day

Walk is cheap. So I trundled along to the nearby Sigma Tech Park, passing the Renaissance Jagriti Apartments, where folks had removed one of the stone slabs over the gutter right in front of the entrance; mentally noted that it was a sure-fire recipe for disaster in India, where sync rules.

You get a lovely veg-grill sandwich at the Sigma TP for just INR 16; the change from a twenty note being good enough for a full chaaya at Mangala Bakery, across the road. Had my fill along with The Google Story*, that I brought along for company and amusement (The Burning Man, going on this week).

While going back, my suspicions were confirmed. There was a bright red Hyundai Accent Viva (WiFi always says that Accent is a part of Accident) at a funny angle near the RJ apartments—call it RJ45! The driver had clean driven in the same unaware that a part of the the gutter-cover had been removed and there was a horde of gawkers around it. A little while later, the large number became clear.

I was curious about whether the car regn. number added up to an 8, but, due to some reason, the trunk of the notchback was up. Soon, a PYT came along and closed it to reveal the number:

KA.03.MF.1872

which adds up to 36, in the same manner (18+18) as Jesus Christ and Rolls Royce. So, it was a bit weird to see it s(k)ewered like that.

Needless to say, the PYT was under a lot of stress and forgot to remove the key from the trunk. So I did my two bits: removed the same and handed it over. Then I beat it from there.

* Factoid I liked: Sergey Brin was born the same day (21.AUG) as my kid, who's also a LeOx (feeling lucky?), like Sergey.

Progressive Destruction

Keep walking around Palm Meadows, hoping to see some of the weird insects of the Old Mother.

Am particularly fond of beetles like JBS Haldane:

When asked "What has the study of biology taught you about the Creator, Dr. Haldane?", he replied: "I'm not sure, but He seems to be inordinately fond of beetles."

Finally, on today's round, I saw one, as big as the one on this post, but the poor bastard was dead. I jiggled it with my shoe, and saw the tell-tale smear of white: someone had run over it.

Think it was Steinbeck who wondered (in Travels with Charley?) why progress looks so much like destruction.

Antaryami* Shirdi Sai

Antaryami Shirdi Sai
Originally uploaded by shastrix.

Picture taken by HBilla of Austin, TX of her friend on VaraLakshmi Vratam day reveals a Shirdi Sai (red rectangle in the center). See original image.

There was another instance of Shirdi Baba suddenly popping up on a Surat building after the flood waters receded:

Raman Towers at Rangoonwala Sheri in Begumpura area has become the most talked about spot in the city, which was battered by floods a fortnight ago. The eight-storeyed residential building does not have any resident as the structure has been condemned for demolition by municipal authorities after floods.

...

Ramakrishna's comment on Sai is appropriate here: [The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, page 513 (top)]

According to the Sakti cult the siddha is called a koul , and according to the Vedanta, a paramahamsa. The Bauls call him a sai. They say, 'No one is greater than a sai.' The sai is a man of supreme perfection. He doesn't see any differentiation in the world. He wears a necklace, one half made of cow bones and the other of the sacred tulsi-plant. He calls the Ultimate Truth 'Alekh', the 'Incomprehensible One'.

* Antaryami

"Nobody beats me in the kitchen"

In our morning shuttle badminton group, Naren is always commenting on something or the other. When people find that they have to tie up their undone laces, he calls for a Lays break.

The other day, our combo was playing this tense game with J&B, a married couple. After some deft net play resulting in J&B losing the point, Naren called out from the other court:

J…, you got to cover that. This ain't the kitchen.

That killed me. Reminded of Steven "Under Siege" Seagal saying:

Nobody beats me in the kitchen

Still chuckling.

Jiddu's Secret

One interesting thing I notice with just two days of Falun Gong is that one is more comfortable with the as-is situation. As John Lennon said: (so prophetically, one must add)

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

A New Earth reveals the secret of Jiddu: (page 198)

At one of his talks in the later part of his life, he surprised his audience by asking, "Do you want to know my secret?" Everyone became very alert. Many people in the audience had been coming to listen to him for twenty or thirty years and still failed to grasp the essence of his teaching. Finally, after all these years, the master would give them the key to understanding. "This is my secret", he said. "I don't mind what happens".

Doc Brown shows a similar attitude (forget the past, let's figure out what to do now) in Back to the Future. He might be having that a++itude as he's got the ability to go and finger the past, but that's another story ;-)

Speaking of the movies, here's an interesting snippet* from Star Wars Episode I: (I am sure the Qui-Gon is not accidental)

QUI-GON: Don't center on your anxiety, Obi-Wan. Keep your concentration here and now where it belongs.
OBI-WAN: Master Yoda says I should be mindful of the future…
QUI-GON: …but not at the expense of the moment. Be mindful of the living Force, my young Padawan.

* Thanks, Gopa

Falun Gong and Feeling Good

Had a shot at Falun Gong last evening. Some reasons why I thought it might turn out nice:

• Falun Gong adds up to 41, one of the more interesting #s in numerology, in the same way as my favorite Hollywood actor, Gregory Peck (23+18).
  
• The exercises are simple—just four standing exercises followed by a sitting one [another 4+1 there ;-)]

It was a good feeling at the end. One felt all charged up and the feeling continued till morning, when I had some awesome games of shuttle badminton.

The core concept of Falun Gong is qigong, where the qi (chee) and the gong differ as explained in the image: (excusez-moi for the quality, but it's always difficult to scan a page in a book with a hard spine)

Like Ramakrishna's peacock, I went back for another dose today sharp at 5:45 PM. Having been put through the paces y'day, it was much better this evening. In fact, I started crying during the third and fifth exercises. So there must be something to it.

Swami says that when the mind becomes pure, the great energy of the Universe descends. It must be the gong that He's referring to. Weirdly enough, I saw another reference to this gong in God Lived With Them. Near the end of the chapter on Swami Vivekananda*, one reads: (pp. 67-68)

One day Swamiji came downstairs and sat on the canvas cot under the mango tree in the courtyard, facing west, as he often did. The monks around him were busy with their activities. One was sweeping the courtyard with a broom. Swami Premananda was climbing the steps to the shrine after his bath. Suddenly Vivekananda's eyes became radiant. Surcharged with spiritual fervor, he said to a disciple: "Where will you go to seek Brahmn? He is immanent in all beings. Here, here is the visible Brahmn! Shame on those who, neglecting the visible Brahmn, set their minds on other things! Here is the visible Brahmn before you as tangible as a fruit in one's hand! Can't you see? Here—here—here is Brahmn!" These words struck the people around him like an electric shock. For about fifteen minutes no one could move or function. Premananda went into ecstasy; others experienced an indescribable peace and joy. At last Vivekananda said to Premananda, "Now got to worship", and all were released. The disciples were amazed to witness the spiritual power of Vivekananda.

Swamiji explained this phenomenon on another occasion: "He who has realized the Atman becomes a house of great power. From him as the center, and within a certain radius, emanates a spiritual force, and all those who come within this circle become animated with his ideas and are overwhelmed by them. Thus without much religious striving they inherit the results of his wonderful spirituality. This is grace."

* Btw, the quote for the day on this site goes:

Every individual is a center for the manifestation of a certain force. This force has been stored up as the resultant of our previous works, and each one of us is born with this force at our back.

ClubM Scrub

Club Mahindra is probably the best of the timeshare resorts in India. Have had some nice trips, like the one to Goa last year.

But, once in a while, I wonder whether that old HG Wells funda applies to them:

In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

Even after paying a good amount of money at the start (175K for a 1BR), we still have to pay what they call an ASF (Annual subscription Fee, though I think of it as Always Seeking Funds). Since others say it's more or less the done thing, I do that promptly, though reluctantly. This year, I settled it mid-July.

A few minutes back, I get a call. The accent is all pseudo (which puts a burr under my @ss) and she's asking me when the ASF's going to be paid for this year. I told her: "been there, done that" and that I'd send a message on this incompetence to Vimla Dorairaju.

Heck, that Universal Conspiracy, Redux bit ain't kidding:

Setting up internal systems Makes the Competition Irrelevant

How DC walked through the Great Wall of China

WiFi used to practice T'ai Chi last year and was recently introduced to a Falun Gong (Feeling Lucky?) session that runs in Palm Meadows in the evening.

The Falun Gong teacher gladly gave her a book on the Falun Dafa (they buy in bulk, I believe). The book was very lucidly written/translated and, right at the beginning, solved an old mystery for me.

How David Copperfield walked through the Great Wall of China.

I saw the video in Madras in 1990 and it's totally amazing. I recall it as if I saw it y'day. If you haven't seen it, it goes as follows:

DC is on one side of the Great Wall, with a platform made of tubular steel frame resting against it. Think of a high-chair propped against the Great Wall and you get the picture. A white sheet is wrapped against the upper part of the frame and lit from behind. After a while, you see the silhouette of DC disappearing into the Great Wall. The sheet is whipped open and no one's there. The frame is then taken to the other side (the wall is at least 25 feet thick there) and set in place. The same white cloth is cupped against the Great Wall and you see the head of DC trying to wriggle out, but going back inside! So the sheet is again wrapped against the upper part of the frame and, with the backlight, you see the form of DC floating in horizontally and then standing up. At that point, the white sheet is removed with a flourish and you see DC standing there, all smiles.

The book says: (page 4)

David Copperfield, a magician in the US, is a master of supernormal abilities, and he once performed the feat of walking through the Great Wall of China. When he was about to pass through the Wall, he used a white cloth as a cover, applied himself to the Wall, and then proceeded to go through it. Why did he do that? That way, many people would consider it a magic performance. It had to be done that way, for he knew that there were many people with great supernormal abilities in China. He was afraid of interference from them, so he covered himself before he went in. When coming out, he stuck one hand out, raised the cloth, and walked out. "Experts watch for tricks while laymen watch for excitement".*

* Old Chinese Saying

Ati Rudra Maha Yajnam at Puttaparthi

An Ati Rudra Maha Yajnam [ARMY :-)] got over recently at "Put-apart-the-I".

ND reports that he was at the poornahuti on Sunday (20.AUG) and that it was exhilarating stuff.

The gem on the lingam was enough for me to be transported into some other world.

DVD and Conquer

My Philips DVD-725 player completed 7 years last Friday.

Paid a pile (~27K) for it in AUG.1999 when I got it, switching directly from video tapes to DVDs, skipping VCDs (hate to even say that word). You get them for one-tenth the price nowadays.

Was checking out The Italian Job, when I noticed that Edward Norton was celebrating his 37th b'day the same day. Really enjoyed his rakish performance and got some more DVDs of his:

• Fight Club
• Primal Fear.

PF was something, living up to its 7.5 rating on IMDB. The ending reminded me of the gnome-like Alex Cox saying: (in Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures)

Ambiguity is great, but in the cinema it's almost verboten.

Hegemony vs. Harmony

I was overwhelmed by this shot of the stick insect* about to be squished, in the latest issue of Sanctuary Asia.

One more casualty in the countdown to 2012.

The accompanying commentary by Bittu Sahgal, Editor of SanctuaryAsia, was aptly titled:

It's Crunch Time

Check out more by the environmentalist on the threats to our environment.

* The first time I saw a stick insect was at Vizag, when a brown one (somewhat like this) landed on our verandah grill, spooking me no end till it flew away, two days later.

wIshopanishad

Chapter 20 of the Shri Sai Satcharitra has an interesting reference to the Ishopanishad:

The Ishopanishad is quite a small Upanishad; and yet it contains many hints which show an extraordinarily piercing insight. Within the short compass of 18 verses, it gives a valuable mystical description of the Atman, a description of the ideal sage, who stands unruffled in the minds of temptations and sorrows; and adumbration of the doctrine of Karma-Yoga as later formulated, and finally a reconciliation of the claims of knowledge and works. The most valuable ideas, that lies at the root of the Upanishad, is that of a logical synthesis between the two opposites of knowledge; and work, which are both required according to the Upanishad to be annulled in a higher synthesis.

The amusing part is when Das Ganu requests Shirdi Baba for clarification on the same, He says:

You need not be anxious, there is no difficulty about the matter, the maid-servant of Kaka (Kakasaheb Dixit) will solve your doubts at Vile Parle, on your way home.

That killed me. Anyway, the Ishopanishad goes:

1. The Lord is
enshrined in the hearts
of all.
The Lord is the
supreme Reality.
Rejoice in him through
renunciation.
Covet nothing. All
belongs to the Lord.

2. Thus working may
you live a hundred
years.
Thus alone will you
work.

3. Those who deny the
Self are born again
Blind to the Self,
enveloped in darkness,
Utterly devoid of love
for the Lord.

4. The Self is one. Ever
still, the Self is
swifter than thought,
swifter than the senses.
Though motionless, he
outruns all pursuit.
Without the Self, never
could life exist.

5. The Self seems to
move, but is ever still.
He seems far away, but
is ever near.
He is within all, and he
transcends all.

6. Those who see all
creatures in themselves
And themselves in all
creatures know no fear.
7. Those who see all
creatures in themselves
And themselves in all
creatures know no
grief.

8. The Self is
everywhere. Bright is
the Self,
Indivisible, untouched
by sin, wise,
Immanent and
transcendent. He it is
Who holds the cosmos
together.

9-11. In dark night live
those for whom
The world without
alone is real; in night
Darker still, for whom
the world within
Alone is real. The first
leads to a life
Of action, the second to
a life of meditation.
But those who combine
action with meditation
Cross the sea of death
through action
And enter into
immortality
Through the practice of
meditation.
So have we heard from
the wise.

12-14. In dark night live
those for whom the
Lord
Is transcendent only; in
darker still,
For whom he is
immanent only.
But those for whom he
is transcendent
And immanent cross the
sea of death
With the immanent and
enter into
Immortality with the
transcendent.
So have we heard from
the wise.

15. The face of truth is
hidden by your orb
Of gold, O sun. May
you remove your orb
So that I, who adore
the true, may see
16. The glory of truth.
O nourishing sun,
Solitary traveler,
controller,
Source of life for all
creatures, spread your
light
And subdue your
dazzling splendor
So that I may see your
blessed Self.
Even that very Self am
I!

17. May my life merge
in the Immortal
When my body is
reduced to ashes.
O mind, meditate on the
eternal Brahman.
Remember the deeds of
the past.
Remember, O mind,
remember.

18. O god of fire, lead
us by the good path
To eternal joy. You
know all our deeds.
Deliver us from evil, we
who bow
And pray again and
again.

Garde au chien

Nachiketa, the pilot who came back from the dead, is back in the news.

His exploits in "enema" territory reminded of that awesome story, Beware of the Dog, by Roald Dahl.

ID59

We had an active ID59 at Palm Meadows a couple of days back, with lots of activities:

• Flag Hoisting in Club House
• Lake-side Tree Plantation Program (TPP)
  
• Ambulance Inauguration
• Medical camp (in Siddapura).

This post is not about that, though.

I was intrigued by the coupon that was issued for the TPP. Weirdly enough, there were two references to Sri Ramakrishna on it. The coupon # (218) can be interpreted as His birthday. The flock of birds reminded me of how He got his first XP of cosmic consciousness: (source)

“One morning,” he recalled in later life, “I took some parched rice in a small basket and was eating it while walking along the narrow ridges of the rice fields. In one part of the sky, a beautiful black cloud appeared, heavy with rain. I was watching it and eating the rice. Very soon the cloud covered almost the entire sky. And then a flock of cranes came flying by. They were as white as milk against that black cloud. It was so beautiful that I became absorbed in the sight. Then I lost consciousness of everything outward. I fell down and the rice was scattered over the earth. Some people saw this and came and carried me home.”

Universal Conspiracy, Redux

With my work at Maars India coming to an end, I was updating my Consultancy page when I noticed something interesting: (red underline)

The Setting up internal systems in the left column was merging with Make the Competition Irrelevant in the right column.

Stopped editing the page after that.

Please let me know about the color combo and any other points you might be having about the page. Thanks.

Universal Conspiracy

Been having some interesting exchanges with one of my childhood pals.

He did a thorough analysis of Peter Russell's Reality and Consciousness: Turning the Superparadigm Inside Out and I was trying to respond to it when I noticed an interesting pattern in my draft message:

How well the periods aligned themselves in the middle paragraph!

When you want something, all the world conspires in helping you to achieve it ;-)

Fat-à-fat

The latest Outlook focuses on Fat, and how urban India is getting well-rounded.

I was intrigued by a line from an Opinion piece by Monsoon Bissell:

It is not recognised that often the layers have been put in place so as to protect the gentlest of spirits that reside within.

That reminded me of Tell It to the Walls, an amazing one-page story from AK Ramanujan's Folktales from India. In fact, it's the first story in the book (great fun, btw) that goes:

Temple Hopping

It's been a while since I saw my favorite temples in Whitefield, so I took off on this double-8 (8/8), and a Tuesday to boot.

Thought I should whip off a bit of cash as safety and was trying to park my car in the basement of our Palm Meadows Amenities Complex, when I saw this dude in the Innova blocking the way. Seeing me, he reversed and, after I finished parking, he was back to this position! How the heck am I to get out? So I palmed my Canon PowerShot A75 and, when I was within spitting distance, squeezed off a shot so that you could see the license plate, which reads: (large size)

KA.03.MF.679

The Synchronous Indian

The driver wasn't in the least bit contrite as he reversed again. A few days back, I had blogged:

It was tough getting out of the Kempe Gowda Bus Station itself and one was left wondering about the sheer synchronous aspect of Indians. The guy in the middle of the road does not get out of the way until you're about to run him down. Most of the time, he's standing there as a challenge! However, Indians thrive under chaos [OS used by God is called K, generally referred to as K-OS ;-)] and must explain their general success in fluid situations overseas. Anyway, all this is quite spooky sync stuff for a guy who believes in using Steinbeck's Knife to the extent possible.

Anyway, I didn't allow that to hassle me too much as I visited the MahaGanapati temple. Some other folks were there, with some camphor burning on a coconut and I could get a 12 o'clock arati :-)

Then, I went to the Maha Shakti Mariamma temple.

Maha Shakti Mariamman

The temple was in some disrepair, but the deity's eyes are just so soothing.

The Pot Man

I saw this multi-colored pot man there. Due to some reason, he was quite aggressive and I thought he was a wandering North Indian, but he said his name was Mallikarjun.

After that, went to the Mariamma temple right next to the BESCOM office. I am just dumbstruck by the huge banyan tree under which the temple has been constructed. The temple was all spruced up and the deity looked radiant. Her eyes are looking in different directions (like Siddhi Vinayak), but it was a great feeling to see Her, the Old Mother, even though the main grill door was locked.

Mariamman near BESCOM office, Whitefield

I did a weird thing then. I thought: "Mother, I'll roll this 5-rupee coin towards you. The extent to which it comes close to You will be an indication of how close I come to You in this life". It's a leap of faith, right? I let go of the coin and it rolled all the way in. You can just about see it in the original image, near the foot of the "gatekeeper" on the right.

Then, it was yet another Mariamma temple in Varthur. We keep passing by the same on our way to the Sani Temple in Gunjur, beyond Varthur. This is the first time I went in and saw:

Mariamman at Varthur

I took the above shot kneeling and was trying for another standing up, when the power went off. That spooked me; looks like She didn't like being troubled at vague times!

Finally, it was the Sani temple, where there was this magnificent Ganesh, recently installed.

Ganesh at Gunjur Sani Temple

The billowing cloth behind the idol made Him look like some sort of caped crusader.

Bliss turned upside-down

There's an interesting story in the Shri Sai Satcharitra where a devotee experiences supreme bliss in an upside-down position. I was thinking about it y'day when I opened the Sai Satcharitra at random, but to the exact chapter (XXXII—In Quest of the Guru). Either a vindication of Sai knowing what's in your heart or just another instance of what Richard Bach talks about in Illusions.

Anyway, the most interesting part of the chapter goes:

Then he took me to a well, tied my feet with a rope and hung me—head downwards and feet up—from a tree near the well. I was suspended three feet above the water, which I could not reach with My hands, nor which could go into my mouth. Suspending me in this manner he went away, no one knew where. After 10 or 12 ghatakas (4 or 5 hours) he returned and taking me out quickly asked me how I fared. "In Bliss supreme, I was. How can a fool like me describe the joy I experienced?" I replied.

Books in a Nook

Books in a Nook
Originally uploaded by shastrix.

Organized some of the many mags I subscribe to y'day and got them all together:

• NatGeoMs and RDs in the top rack
• NatGeoTs, India Today Travel Pluses, Outlook Travellers, and Sanctuary Asias in the bottom.

Wonder how much of those I have actually read. Reminds me of that bit from Steinbeck on Ed Ricketts, his great friend: (easily the best bio I have read)

The purchase of a typewriter was a long process with him, for much of the type had to be changed from business signs to biologic signs, and he also liked to have some foreign-language signs on his typewriter, tilde for Spanish, accents and cedilla for French, umlaut for German. He rarely used them but he liked to have them.

But, I ferreted out one great issue of NatGeoTraveler: 50 Places of a Lifetime. The icing on the cake was the ad on the back cover for the Rolex Submariner, featuring David Doubilet, my favorite underwater photographer.

Shiwwwer my TimBLs*

The www completes 15 years today.

Tim Berners-Lee, the guy who invented it, was born 8/6 and the web was born 6/8. Nice.

He's also one of those numerological 46s, who buck the trend and come out with something marvelous.

*

"Davai, Magyar"

Anurag has chess at his new school and, every once in a while, he's after me to play the same at home. He takes some time between moves that I have to keep prodding him: "Davai, Anurag". This is from a favorite story in True Stories of Great Escapes, the first book I bought with my first salary way back in 1987.

It goes: (not a very good transcript, but beggars can't be choosers; you can click on the image to read the last two pages of the story)

It's a true story set in 1946 of an allied spy in Budapest who had to get out as "the Soviet trap had snapped shut on several of my close colleagues, and I had gone into hiding."

On the train at a checkpoint as he was waiting for the Soviet inspecting officer to get to him he had a mental block and could not remember the name of the man he was impersonating, he could remember everything else except the name! As the officer was working his way through the carriage checking papers the door at the other end of the carriage opened and a Soviet colonel poked his dead into the compartment and asked "Who plays chess?"

As he was closest to the door the colonel looked at him and asked him if he played, he hadn't played in 10 years but this was the breathing space he needed and replied that he did.

The colonel gestured that he follow and took him to a compartment with 2 other colonels and a general who was the man who wanted the game.

As the train began to move the general produced a chess board and began arranged the figures, "'god help me,' I thought. 'this is the game of my life. I must make it good, and yet I can't afford to win.' I had never known a Russian who didn't hate to lose or a chess player who liked to play for long unless his opponent could make it interesting."

As they played some of the tricks of the game slowly returned to him and was able to make the general work for every advantage.

Time flew, and with a start he realized the train was slowing at the next checkpoint, the door of the compartment slid open and he still could not remember his name, the Austrian supervisor stepped in "This man has not yet been questioned" he said firmly. the general stood and put his big hand on the man's chest and expelled him into the corridor.

when they finished the game with the general the victor, he said something to the officer who spoke German. "the general enjoys your style," was interpreted, "he will play you another game."

they were at the last crucial moves as the train slowed at the final checkpoint, a guard came into the compartment and spoke rapidly in Russian at the same time pointing at him, and still he could not remember the name...

"As the guard spoke, the general's face slowly purpled. I had no idea what the guard was telling him, but it made him as angry as any man I'd ever seen. He looked at me, his eyes blazing. then he carefully placed the chessboard on the table under the window and stood up.

'this is the end of me,' I thought. 'To come so close-'

The general crossed his arm in front of his body, as a man would do to draw a sword. when he brought it up in a sweeping arc, the back of his had smashed across the guard's mouth.

The man reeled backwards and struck the corridor wall. The general slammed the door so hard it shook our window, then returned to his seat, muttering something under his breath, he picked up the chessboard and studied the pieces. 'Davai, Magyar!" he said. My heart was bursting with relief. no one would dare come in again - of that I was sure. As the train gathered speed, release from the awful tension flooded over me, so that, for the fist time, I smiled, The general looked up from the board and smiled in return. He spoke to the young officer who said to me: 'the general wonders if you would enjoy playing him sometime in Vienna. Where can he reach you?

Automatically I mentioned a well-known Vienna hotel. 'And your name?' prodded the young officer.

Now, without the awful, clutching terror, I hesitated, but only for a brief moment. How could I ever have forgotten those two simple words, I wondered.

Aloud I said, 'My name is Oscar Zinner*.'

* Oscar Zinner is yet another 41 ;-)

Standard Chattered

I am amazed by the actions of Standard Chartered, one of the so-called MNC banks in India. Their right arm does not know what the other is doing.

I haven't been using their Gold Standard card for a while as I am quite happy with the one from ICICI Bank. So, when they billed me for the annual fees at the end of June, I asked them to cancel the card. They do some major follow-up in July and I am promised that the card would be converted into a LifeTime free card and ALL the charges would be reversed.

However, I had a nagging doubt whether they would actually do it and was proved right when I got the bill today evening. No Life-time free stuff, no reversal, only some extra charges with the Payment being indicated as IMMEDIATE.

And to think that I once bought a car using this card :-(

Open Sesame

Qk.ly: http://bit.ly/bsxOpenSesame

With the kids away at school, we had a relaxed VaraLakshmi Vratam at home.

Since it's more a ladies' function, I was hanging around handing over various stuff that WiFi wanted. Once the pooja started, I was seated in a chair overlooking Swami.

Something about the eyes always zaps the hell out of me and, very soon, I start crying tears of joy.

This went on for a while and I was wondering why this happens. As if in answer, the rear French windows, kept closed (without being bolted), suddenly opened up due to a gust of wind.

"That is our abode and place of rest where the mind is most pleased and charmed."

—Shri Sai Satcharita, Chapter 49

Falling between Stools

We were thinking of changing our dining table to a low-slung Japanese one.

But do you know that there are tables even lower than that?

From an RD joke of the early 1980s:

Once a Westerner landed up in Vizag and was surprised by the small wooden stools in front of the plantain leaves. Not knowing any better, he plonks himself on the plantain leaf and tells the hosts: "You eat on very small dining tables, don't you?"!

BabAdvaita

Qk.ly: http://bit.ly/bsxBabAdvaita

Like this section the most in Chapter 3 of Shri Sai Satcharitra:

"Be wherever you like, do whatever you choose, remember this well that all what you do is known to Me. I am the Inner Ruler of all and seated in their hearts. I envelope all the creatures, the movable and immovable world. I am the Controller - the wire-puller of the show of this Universe. I am the mother—origin of all beings—the Harmony of three Gunas, the propeller of all senses, the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer. Nothing will harm him, who turns his attention towards Me, but Maya will lash or whip him who forgets Me. All the insects, ants, the visible, movable and immovable world, is My Body or Form".

To me, the most moving instance of the above goes as follows:

Once, Mrs. Tarkhad was staying in a certain house in Shirdi. At noon, meals were ready and dishes were being served, when a hungry dog turned up there and began to cry. Mrs. Tarkhad got up at once and threw a piece of bread, which the dog gulped with great relish.

In the afternoon, when she went to the Masjid and sat at some distance, Sai Baba said to her, "Mother, you have fed Me sumptuously up to my throat, My afflicted pranas (life-forces) have been satisfied. Always act like this, and this will stand you in good stead. Sitting in this Masjid I shall never, never speak untruth. Take pity on Me like this. First give bread to the hungry, and then eat yourself. Note this well."

She could not at first understand the meaning of what Baba said. So she replied, "Baba, how could I feed You? I am myself dependent on others and take my food from them on payment." Then Baba replied: "Eating that lovely bread I am heartily contended and I am still belching. The dog which you saw before meals and to which you gave the piece of bread is one with me, so also other creatures (cats, pigs, flies, cows, etc.) are one with me. I am roaming in their forms. He, who sees Me in all these creatures is my beloved. So abandon the sense of duality and distinction and serve Me, as you did today."

Drinking these nectar-like words, she was moved, her eyes were filled with tears, her throat was choked and her joy knew no bounds.

As Antonio Rigopoulos observes in The Life And Teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi:

Thus, Baba expressed the Indian Sufi ideal of wahdat al-wujud, the unity of all beings, divine and human. As the Turk says in verse 11 of Eknath's Hindu-Turk Samvad, "Allah, you exist everywhere…you are the seeing and the seen…the knower and the known…you are life and the giver of life…you are the alms that fill the stomach and take away sin."

Sai Baba's experiences of oneness exemplifies equally well the metaphysical principles of advaita-vedanta, that is, the identity atman-Brahman of the Upanishads. Sai left no space for theories: the dog is Baba and Baba is the dog.

Ashté.

The Nostradamus Code

I was spooked when I saw this in Outlook magazine on Monday. Considering the sort of sensational stuff that Outlook normally covers, this sort of thing is right up its alley. Anyway, it turned out to be an ad.

Even though I have been tracking 2012 for a while, this is the first time I have heard about our good friend from the 1550s predicting WWIII right on our doorstep. The sample chapter refers to Century IV, Quatrain 67 that goes: (Anand, please confirm the year when Saturn and Mars are "equal fiery")

The year that Saturn and Mars are equal fiery,
The air very dry parched long meteor:
Through secret fires a great place blazing from burning heat,
Little rain, warm wind, wars, incursions.

and elaborates:

The Time of Troubles begins with a period of geological shifts. Frequent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and disrupted weather systems become the norm. This will cause widespread famines and droughts, and social upheavals in unexpected places. Nations that are considered prosperous and powerful, particularly western nations, will be weakened. They will be torn with civil strife and rioting as people migrate to areas that have water and can support crop-growing.

The first sentence above is quite intriguing. Earth's Diminishing Magnetic Field goes: (highlighting mine)

While earth's "pulse" rate is rising, her magnetic field strength, on the other hand, is declining. According to Professor Bannerjee of the University of New Mexico, the field has lost up to half its intensity in the last 4,000 years. And because a forerunner of magnetic polar reversals is this field strength, Prof. Bannerjee believes that another reversal is due. Braden believes that because these cyclical Shifts are associated with reversals, Earth's geological record indicating magnetic reversals also marks previous Shifts in history. And, within the enormous time scale represented, there were quite a few of them.

In his reading #826-8, Edgar Cayce has already predicted that: (towards end of the document)

Q. What great change or the beginning of what change, if any, is to take place in the earth in the year 2000 to 2001 A.D.?
A. When there is the shifting of the poles, or a new cycle begins.

With Israel going on the rampage in Lebanon, one is reminded of these predictions:

Many know-it-all pompous people will claim that there is no danger of a WWIII, but they do not know that this war will not start suddenly. It will start gradually with nations going to war with other nations. One small war added to another small war until the sum is a world war.

There are just too many things coming together!

It will be a wonder if one is part of the 2 billion still alive after 2012; that's just 30% of the current population of the world.