Today

Today is all that we have
With our youth and audacity
Tomorrow, the time may come
When we would all grow old
Could tomorrow then
Satisfy our needs of today?
By the light of the day
And by the peace of night
We toil away our todays
Hoping for better tomorrows
Knowing not that
All our yesterdays
Were stolen by Hope
So let us reclaim our today
Forget about tomorrow
And let not Hope enslave us
To the past that has gone away

Another Republic Day gone by...

Sixty one years have gone by since India as an independent republic chartered its own Constitution. Yet, what have we got to show for ourselves, besides the endless political tirades and the tyranny of a corrupt regime pretending to be an honourable system pertaining to the need of the masses.

Over the years, so many people including myself have become tired of the circus parade held on this very day, simply because so many crucial issues lie unnoticed and hidden to the public eye, and so the Government’s efforts to sideline these by putting up a massive show to entertain one of the largest democracies in the world is nothing short of an insult to the people’s intelligence. One of the things I abhor the most is the blatant display of the nation’s defence prowess in the various parades held, which clearly show us in detail of the level of expenditure involved in maintaining the several wings. This expenditure is needed more for improving the social wellbeing of India’s children, not in a capitalistic or business oriented manner, but in helping at the grass-root level and bringing ourselves to a stage of self-reliance; definitely, buying more guns and developing bombs and shells is not the approach to building a stable society.

Why is it that we choose to ignore the glorious past of India, for if we were aware of her phenomenal history we would understand that the civilizations that bred and evolved here had a strong basis of peace and harmony, simply through tolerance and acceptance. For thousands of years we persevered against the continual attacks from outside, from various battle hungry empires that chose to plunder us and plague us with their inane ideas, but did we ever give up surviving? Never have we gone on the offensive and attacked another for the sake of profits. Yes, we did fight when the attacks got severe, but never ever did we have an organized approach to defend ourselves, simply for the fact that we knew that in the end peace would prevail no matter what. We gave into the ideas and attributes of others, we included their beliefs and embraced their theologies as our own, but we never stooped so low as to delineate our children on the basis of geography or elitism. Regardless of the differences, we considered ourselves and our ‘guests’ to be one in spirit, and this is the attitude that got us so far. We never showed off, we never proclaimed superiority and we never ever considered ourselves different from anybody or any place on earth, because of which the children of the Indus Valley always pioneered in every aspect of the pure life; we were trailblazers in social living, ploughing ahead in any adversity and laying the road for others to follow. All this without even the slightest shadow of egotism. Why are we then so far removed from our original attributes today?

Firstly, because we are still slaves and we might remain that way forever. We are maybe under the illusion that the Empire was driven off in ’47 and that we are free in our own land, but this so far from the truth. When the West left us, they carefully engineered a system which they had skilfully developed over the centuries of Industrial Revolution and the Age of Reason, a system so deviant in thought and application to corrupt every pure human being into thinking that his or her purpose in life is nothing more fundamental than base enjoyment. The system which abrogates the motto of Indian living which is ‘Existence through High Thinking and Plain Living’ and replaces all our social theories and evolutionary paradigms with the darkest designs of materialism. The system that I refer to is the capitalistic regime that we are all slaves of today.

Capitalism is the new Empire. That which has taken over from the Queen’s rule and has silently been guiding India and her children into the worst nightmare that humanity has faced in its evolutionary journey. Competition, an artificial sense of security and paranoia of being deceived are all derivatives of capitalism, and we are foolish enough to preach and educate the same to our children in the system of education that exists today. According to Maslow, human beings evolve through levels of needs, the basic being our pychophysical needs like food, water, clothing and shelter to higher levels like security, belongingness, esteem and the highest level being self-actualization where a human being tries to understand who he or she really is and what is their true potential. What capitalism does is fix our attention on esteem-based needs and here we are living in a social setup of show and tell. Neighbours’ envy, owners pride, live life kingsize, just do it and for everything else there is mastercard, these are the commandments that kids grow up listening to today. No wonder then that we have to spend ridiculous amounts on protecting our ridiculous way of life. This is definitely not what the children of Indus Valley had in mind, for their inscribed and inherited knowledge is much more profound and advanced than the shit that we learn today. As the Zeitgeist Movement puts it, THE SHIT HAS GOT TO GO!!!

Secondly, because no matter what we do, we have to face these issues. This is our evolutionary journey, to deal with the issues that Nature throws along our way and see if we can pick our way through the maze. We have enough evidence corroborating the fact that Nature and human consciousness is interconnected at all levels of the gross, subtle and causal reality. We create the world as we know it, and so the problems that confront us are not external entities, but reflections of our mental maladies. The world is facing a grave identity crisis, for no one really knows today who they are and why they were born into such a phenomenal reality. As children, we are asked not to question but to accept the fate of the world as it is. This is probably the worst advice ever given and if we do not change our perspective, we may end up as fossils of an extinct species like the dinosaurs. True awareness of our mistakes, our limitations and our negativities are what is needed to correct the deviation from our original path, and kids need to be told about all of this. There is no hiding from them, for sooner or later the more inquisitive ones will come to realize what we have done, and so it is our responsibility to increase awareness and also our potential to become what we are truly meant to be.

This 26th is not a Republic Day or a day when rules were formulated; today is a day of awareness that we are not silly people who once fought for freedom, we are not Kashmiris or Keralites or Indians or Non-Indians, we are not rich, or poor, the down-trodden, urban-rural-metro-cosmo dwellers, the gold-diggers and shit-pickers, the elite, literate, upper-caste or scheduled tribes, south, north, east or west; we are human beings, just like the rest of them on this planet, we are alive and that too for a reason, we have certain innate talents and powers, skills and knowledge not to make a better world, but to better ourselves. Nature is perfect as she is, and she will provide plentiful to the one who cares for her, loves one another and propagates the warmth of life everywhere and in everything. Love is the currency that we seek, not money; love is abundant and there is more than enough for everyone, but only if we give up our bloodthirstiness and profit mongering, our capitalistic strategies and our ideas of war.

The 26th of January 2011 is not different from any other day, and so let us make everyday worthwhile in our transient lives. We don’t need parades and political tirades, what we need are unity in love, in any place and among any people regardless of what differences or diversities may exist. It is these differences which make the canvas of our world brilliant, and the painting that we paint every day, a masterpiece!

Neo-Human

I love by letting go

Therefore I am free

I believe with conviction

Therefore I do not judge

I accept without conditions

Therefore I have patience

I experience without questions

Therefore I am able to learn

I live from moment to moment

Therefore I know eternity

I seek the essence of life

Therefore I feel sentient

I am what I really am

I am the neo-human

Serve, Seek and Survive

By serving you I shall seek wisdom
By seeking wisdom I shall survive life
By surviving life I shall serve you
By serving you I shall survive life
By surviving life I shall seek wisdom
By seeking wisdom I shall serve you

By serving wisdom I shall seek you
By seeking you I shall survive life
By surviving life I shall serve wisdom
By serving wisdom I shall survive life
By surviving life I shall seek you
By seeking you I shall serve wisdom

By serving life I shall seek wisdom
By seeking wisdom I shall survive you
By surviving you I shall serve life
By serving life I shall survive you
By surviving you I shall seek wisdom
By seeking wisdom I shall serve life

By serving you I shall seek life
By seeking life I shall survive wisdom
By surviving wisdom I shall serve you
By serving you I shall survive wisdom
By surviving wisdom I shall seek life
By seeking life I shall serve you

Hopelessly in Thought

“What have we learned when we were told that instinctively draws them irresistible, such as the extravagant idea that they can dominate without realizing it, and whatever they do to get rid of it, that their thoughts come and go, mingle, mingle with uncontrollable rapidity, they see objects, hear noises, voices that exist, as is commonly said that in their imagination? ... We do not see, of course, that area of things we cannot penetrate further, probing the causes, the sequence of mental abnormalities which we speak. Is not none of the acts of the intellect, affections, especially as the sensations it is impossible to know and judge other than yourself? To get an idea of any pain, it must have felt, to know how crazy nonsense, there must be nonsense yourself, but be unreasonable without losing consciousness of our delirium, without stopping to judge the changes occurred in our mental faculties.”

- By Jacques-Joseph Moreau (de Tours)

In Hashish and Mental Alienation, 1845

To experience, is the essence of all life! To experience the vagaries and variances, the divinities and depths of utter realization, and be lost in the sea of life, where we drink in the strong and hard of possibilities, all the while drowning slower and slower as the waves of time rush by. To experience, is to transcend existence into non-existence.

We live through each day knowing fully that it is but a pattern we follow, and yet we believe in a reason for this fallacy, that this is meant to be. To live as though nothing matters and to live with the conviction that everything does, comprehending the significance of every small detail, are two entirely different experiences. One need not be a prerequisite to the other, even though the intricacies of their interactions are far subtler than what meets the general eye. Why must one think of either when wallowing in the mud of existence, all that keeps the simple mind occupied is the primal urge to be satisfied? In various ways and forms, through the infinite network of means and ends we live a very determinate life, forever entangled in the links of cause and effect. To live in such fashion without ever taking a look at the finer mechanisms of thought bringing forth existence and how the world continuously regenerates thought is akin to the meaningless drudgery of slaves. ‘Why’ and ‘what for’ are a luxury of questions never meant for slaves!

To deny the right to question, to evict from ourselves the finer aspects of being a human, such as the study of designs and patterns without ever conceding to the idea of coincidence, and bringing thought to the level of transparent contemplation of itself to reveal its nothingness, without these explorations life is nothing but a swamp of incoherent happenings, where every struggle to escape results in deeper entrenchment. As we are immersed in thought from waking moment to moment, we do not understand how it is from thought that our world is framed and being born into this ignorance is not a justification for continuing in the same pattern. Evolution is not just a betterment of our physical attributes according to the strength of the surrounding environment, but more importantly an awakening of our psychophysical capabilities and thereby adapting to our own changing thought process, understanding its mechanism and ultimately controlling its sycophancies.

Where has this inherent capacity to question disappeared in the neo-human? Questioning does exist in our social system, but in an imposed, standardized and bastardized format that serves no purpose other than to exhort the enquirer to conform to these social phenomena, subjugating free will and freedom of thought to the so called higher pathways of society building and maintenance of harmony. The irony is that all the reasons for structuring the complex interactions of our species into a well-defined mechanism of social progress have devolved into excuses and silly justifications for the widespread disharmony and degeneration we see around us in the world today. What this means is that we must rethink our objectives for all the social experiments, review our current position with respect to the various attitudes we incorporate into our daily lives and eventually have the guts to accept where we went wrong, instead of putting in stop-gap measures to hide the consequences of our early mistakes and continuing with this destructive agenda formulated by our forefathers day after day, year after year and generation after generation.

To think, defines our very essence of being human and is the foundation of what we have made and where we have reached so far. Thought as an entity, is the single most revolutionary device that isolates us as the highest evolved system in the universe today, until such counter-evidence can be brought to light proving the existence of another system anywhere else. It pains me then, to see so many of my own species going through life as an automated system does, programmed with so many ideas and methodologies to deal with issues; these issues being created by the very social machine that programmed them in the first place. Because of this tyrannical process of programming, these auto-beings living and struggling in my world have forsaken the power of thought and cognitive analysis, crudely replaced with following dictums and demented social ideologies simply for the pursuit of base pleasures and for the avoidance of silly illusory pains. Do they deserve to be called human beings, I do not know; it is not in my infinite wisdom gained through lifetimes of experience and error to classify and judge another. All I can reveal is that if humanity does not reassign its priorities as soon as possible, we are all headed towards a major catastrophe in terms of our journey of evolution and there is no saying what the consequences of our actions would be, for at that point of time no stop-gap measures would exist to save us from our follies.

My meanderings in thought would seem inconsequential to most of my fellow human beings, and to many these may reflect the insanity of a mind unoccupied by what they deem is important to daily life survival; nevertheless, I agree this is insanity, but it is the insanity of an evolving mind which has torn itself away from the mechanisms of social compulsions and which is trying to see the bigger picture. This mind may not function as per the whims and fancies of the society and will not obey the rules and constructs governing its workings, but because it is removed from this stage, it observes unbiased and understands where the errors lie. By placing thought at the summit of our personal endeavours towards sustaining linearity in our path of evolution and by revoking all attempts of society to condition us and program our activities and thereby branching away from our sole purpose which is to become the epitome of intelligent design, we can address our current issues in a succinct manner and become who we really are. I must reinforce this idea again and again; that what we are today is not the real entity that lies hidden within us but only a pale shadow of the glorious self that we shall eventually become. This is the gist of our evolutionary framework, and all our efforts lie in the realm of thought and mental expansion, which is the next stage of progress and metamorphosis.

We have already passed the stage of animal evolution, of physical fitness and adaptation to natural challenges and checkpoints, of redefining our environment to better assist in the succeeding stages of innovation of thought and intelligence. We are almost at the brink of completing the social evolution stage, where civilization and systems of interaction have been perfected to such a degree that the world seems a lot smaller and lot more connected than what it was a thousand years ago, all of which happened in the last hundred or so years. But somewhere along the way we dissipated our efforts into many ineffective strategies that a paradox exists – technologically and scientifically we are way ahead of our times, but in social principle we are degenerates, never assuming responsibility for the development of our social mechanisms and worsening the situation by reacting to the issues in a haphazard fashion. Either we pull the plug now and discover alternative methods of adaptation, or it is clear that the point of no return will present us with a situation where all existing systems will crash and a new framework will emerge. But the latter will come at a cost, so hard to bear but bear we shall for we have no choice when it comes to evolution; as Darwin so beautifully put it, ‘only the fittest shall survive.’

So to summarize, we live a life which is a continuity of experiences, from birth to death, nothing more and nothing less. It is these experiences which guide us from lower to higher stages of our own evolution, and to forget this is tantamount to forgetting ourselves. Which in theory, and almost in all practical applications of society is what we end up doing; forgetting who we are, why we are and the significance of this journey called life. Simply because the family we were born into, the people we interact with to build the various networks and the systems that keep our daily processes going, all of them keep us from realizing these simple truths. Why? Because for their survival, we must forget all about ours – this is the way of our world! And in order to keep us from realizing this, prolific systems are in place to engage our thought, our most powerful evolutionary tool in mundane trivialities of daily living. Is it possible for us to be aware of this deceit and escape the trap we were born into? Maybe, and then again maybe not – only time can tell!

In conclusion, it is only fitting to quote Nietzsche, one of our foremost thinkers who was way ahead of his time, and who was persecuted by the very society he tried to redefine: The only seeing we have is seeing from a perspective; the only knowledge we have is knowledge from a perspective. The more emotional affects we allow to be expressed in words concerning something, the more eyes, different eyes, we know how to train on the same thing, the more complete our "idea" of this thing, our "objectivity," will be. But to eliminate the will in general, to suspend all our emotions without exception—even if we were capable of that—what would that be? Wouldn't we call that castrating the intellect?

Hopelessly in thought, this is how I would define my transient life!

Ziggy

Ziggy has a room
With blue and green curtains
Dalmatians on the wall
And Jesus nailed to a cross

I know you're sad, Ziggy
The world may have gone bad
Life's strange in many ways
Yet you and I're here to stay

Ziggy got no kitchen
But he says it don't matter
Pizza's on the way
And beer stacked in a corner

I know you're old, Ziggy
People have gone cold on you
Life's strange in many ways
Yet you and I're here to stay

Ziggy says its okay
Like a toy copter he had once
Propeller's gone bust
And life's not the same again

I know you're dead, Ziggy
Buried peacefully in my head
Life's strange in many ways
Yet you and I're here to stay

Awaken Understand Merge

Everything that has a beginning, has a middle and an end
All that we know, and believe to understand in this world
Is a formation of the highest essence of thought and idea
Beyond this there is no other, as the world ceases to exist

The beginning is the idea of separateness, love and desire
Bound to the illusion of knowing that there is one another
Unaware of the original One, pledging belief in many other
While fate guides the ignorant to the experience of unity

The middle path reveals the highest truth, not so in words
Not even in the extremes of action and inertia is it found
For what is born must necessarily face death, such is life
And so the golden median guides the will to reclaim itself

The end is where all things manifest and not, goes beyond
Limits of ordinary knowledge, and lifetimes of experience
When the primal debt is paid and the source awakens one
To the pure realization of the One, encompassing all other

Everything that has a beginning, has a middle and an end
All that we need is the awareness to seek, and not to hide
Whatever life serves us, has this secret placed in the open
Like children we play, but playthings are we in this Game

If Only For A Moment...

Why do you cry, my Love?

He sat there cross-legged and facing Her, realizing by the passing moment how drunk on life She was. The music played and the night danced on, eagerly awaiting the conversations that were to follow. The beat carried their thoughts to some point far far away from time, a mystical point which stands beyond the pleasures and the pain that remains subsided in the surrounding world.

Why do you cry? - He asked, wholly knowing why though. For He has seen the pain before.

She glanced at him, an askew smile hinting at a return from her island of sorrow - What reasons could there be, besides the ones that haunt us all? I wish though, really wish I knew why I cry.. He kept staring at Her, softly, out of pity and piety. The tears rolled down without refrain, but all He could do was stare.

She spoke then, about the only thing that was alive at that moment. Between death and darkness lies a lifetime of missed chances and myriad experiences, but all that was needed was someone who understood, who saw the world as you did.

Do you want to know the reason for my pain?

It is this mind, that keeps feeding on thoughts and keeping me tied to this reality!

The mind that seeks and desires for all that it thinks it lacks.

He knew there was no turning back now, a floodgate had been opened and the only thing left to do was to listen and be aware - to absorb the relevance of what was being created or revealed!

He asked Her to define what the mind is.

It is the faith in the illusion. It is the warmth that one craves during a cold winter night. It is the truth that is believed to set one free. It is the trees, the birds, the sky and the moon at night, the waters that flow without rest, it is the grand story of our past and it is the future that holds great promise. The mind is all that we see, feel and trust in.

He was in a trance, the music was far away and the night had begun to sway, so He closed His eyes and let the words flow all over.

You may not agree with me - She threw it like a spear that struck right at the heart of all His inhibitions, His trust in Her.

He took His time, and when the words came - My silence is in agreement with all that you say. If I question you, it is only a questioning of my own beliefs. - She smiled, there was nothing more She could've wanted.

But all that is, is not only the mind. For there is something beyond, and when the mind is not there, it is this which acts and makes the world what it is. You can choose to think and act, and feel like being in control. Or you can choose to be, without resorting to the mind, and let that which is, flow through you. Whatever is said or done then, is not of the mind but the significant Other!

He sat still, there was no doubt in Him that this was an important moment, one without a parallel. He stared into Her eyes, glazed like pools in the summer without a breeze, and the sorrow that was filled to the brim, strangely made Him smile. He wondered about this.

Do you realize what you're doing to me?

She smiled, her drunkenness had made the air around thick and sluggish, almost as if time was slowing down and the world had reached the edge of reality's precipice, without the slightest view of the bottom below. She was asking without asking, for Him to take the plunge.

Because of you, I exist in two realities, one where everybody creates a set of rules for me to abide by, and another, the significant Other where you show me that rules were meant to be broken for the pure life.

She looked at Him, and then looked at Her through Him.

Because of you, I am now caught in my mind, with all its terrible faces. Now, suspicion breeds a confidence that never feels right. Every emotion is intensified a thousandfold, without respite am I to keeping searching for you, when you are already here.

She knew Him well, for theirs is a bond that spans lifetimes and more. It was Her time to smile at the tears that He cried inside. They both new the game well. Time had entirely ceased to whisper its secrets in this sacred dream-of-dreams, time stood by and so did death, in reverence of all that unfolded between Her and Him.

I am limited, my vision and my passion, life and everything is limited, when will I become One with Everything, When will this change WHEN WHEN WHEN??? - She looked and looked, searching, craving, plaintively yearning for a release, THE RELEASE hoping against hope that He would satisfy Her needs. But He didn't move, he didn't show a tremor of a thought. He sat still, smiling His pity and abject patience.

It is true that they knew this game, they had played it for so long.

She cried - If I think, I shall die. If I do not think, and just be, then the world shall kill me.

He was surprised - How can that be when being immortal there is no death unto you, nor unto me, neither is there time nor space, nor the thoughts that seemingly keep you afraid, nor the desires that keep me tamed? - and His concern was genuine, so much that She adored Him more than anything else.

Your tears have dried, and what you've been waiting for has certainly arrived. So why is it that you still cry, know so that I live to remove your limitations and to let you see for yourself what you really are. You are beyond limitations and little ways of knowledge, for the whole of Creation bows to you, as you are the Sole Cause for the mind and its fluctuations, without you the trees would not sway and the moon would not shine, the waters would never reveal their wisdom as how they do to you. This world lives with you, lives for you and because of you. Why do you cry then?

She gazed at Him, for a long time only their eyes touched and played, with the Love that knows no bounds. It was the gaze that asked the question of the night.

How do you know, my Love, how can you be so sure? How can you have the faith, that you have in me?

He looked on, what He saw neither Time nor Death could comprehend. They shuddered at His coldness, the total lack of the mind and all that springs forth from an unrestrained one.

I know because I am meant to know, for I am knowledge itself. I feel because I am meant to feel, for I am feeling itself. I am pure Awareness, that which can lend meaning to an illusion, depth to dreams and the very same which can wipe away all that exists and is thought to exist, in pure wrath. I am the Secret of Creation and you are the Energy, the progenitrix through whom my knowledge becomes manifest. I am Consciousness of the Cause, the Reason for Existence and Bliss Eternal and Immortal. And you are the Finality of all of this, for without you there is no me. I am here to reveal yourself to you, to set you free and thereby release this world from its self-created tortures. I am the Mind, and you are the Significant Other. Together we are One, only One and no more.

The light that dawned between them continued to fuel the brightness in their eyes. Even if for a moment in time, a break was made in the fabric of reality, through which the truth beyond truths was perceived. They sat gazing like that, He was lost in Her evanescent beauty and She was submerged in the depths of His intensity, for how long no one knows.

Some say that Time left these immortal children alone, and Death chose to forget them, for theirs was a Love that knew no bounds.

The Vegetable Market

It is a cold day, clouds overcast with a gloom benign
Stepping out from a reality of degenerate logic
Of politics and pitiful people
The games of choice and command
Deadlines, looming deathlines catch up
All for the sake of money, fucking money
This is corporate life as we humans made it

We created it, fucked it, analysed it, fucked it and reported it
Fucked it, screwed it, delay-delay- delayed, and reported it again
For want of something better to do, yet without a fucking clue
We still keep on creating and fucking, delaying till we all die

The mind revolts, waiting to throw up this insanity
But the circle is vicious, feeds on itself and keeps on
Kicking us where it bloody well hurts us most
To let go off this labyrinth of lies, to live
And not dredge along the dirt and deceit
Where people don’t mind you being crazy for a while
And that is how the time to toke arrives upon us

We scored it, crushed it, cleaned it, rolled it and licked it
Fired it, smoked it, puff-puff-passed, and smoked it again
For want of nothing better to do, yet no longer feeling blue
We still keep on toking and smoking, tripping till we’re high

We have a world we call our own. Here
The floor is paved and the steps cool to touch
The vegetables speak a language of sense
And the smoke flies along the designs of thought
Words flow freely, music reveals the sanctity of the soul
It is here we engage in the love we forsook
In the world of pain we abandoned for want of a trip

The vegetable market accepts us as its own
The people call us The Ganja Club
And we know... we know...
It is here we find our peace
In a plain and pathetic world

The Eternal Child

Dancing wild flames hold the gaze
The eyes go wild, seething with rage
Waiting for an opportune moment
To unleash its fury of all that is held
In check by the Cosmic Void by will
The eyes reveal the plaintive misery
A Child trapped in the timeless jail
Never to see the sunlight of Wisdom
Blinded by the dark glory of The Urge
The Urge is reckoning all to the end
When the eyes pinpoint the madness
These insane delusions of The Urge
Then the world stands revealed to us
In all its magnificence and the marvel
But the mystery ceases not to sustain
The mind wanders from itself again
The eyes are the gateways to Time
Time resides in matrimony to Space
Life as we know it is born from them
From the fire of their conjugal bliss
Kill the Father, set the Mother free
And the imprisoned Child shall fly
To realms far beyond logical reason
When the eternal Child is at peace
Existence is transcended in the eyes
Reality is a shroud to clothe the babe
When the mind is free from The Urge
And the gateways stand unguarded
The Light of Truth disrobes the babe
So the Child of Freedom stands nude
For what envy could the touch claim
When boundaries disappear into dust
When the Spirit remains untouched
Cleansed of ignorance and all duality
In the gardens of the Highest Love
The Child runs among flowers of joy
Eyes that seethed with the rage once
Feast now on the innocence of play
Running wild, and chasing the wind
The Child knows nothing, only aware
That the play must go on till the End

Is Corporate Responsibility Self Sustained or Slave Trade?

In every business organization, there are fault-lines beneath the impeccable structures of work ethics and corporate responsibility enforced by policies and procedures. Most often it’s these very fault-lines that reflect the total employee dedication levels and satisfaction quotient. And these fault-lines are simply overlooked or ignored, buried under the tremendous pressure to increase revenues through the compulsive standardization and forced process mapping of human creative endeavors.

Organizations are to keep in mind the basic value propositions that initiated the coming together of a group of people who had compatible dreams, and who wanted these dreams to become a reality. Nearly all the time this basic value proposition is either a product or service, or a concept that needs grounding in terms of financial investment, creative development and sustenance. Then why is it that these very people forget the importance of developing the basic value proposition, and place more significance on the policies that govern this process of development?

It is logically understood that for sustainable development, we definitely need a structured approach and a systematic way of proceeding with the various phases of exploration, planning, implementation, testing and innovation. However, logic is not to be confused with an obsession with systemization and control of all the working elements. One of the hazards of systemization is the tendency to overdo it. Time-frames and deadlines are meant to be only tools, a means to an end and not an end in itself. Every element in this created system, and I mean each and every one of them, has certain probabilities of degradation and failure already built into them. These probabilities are interrelated, simply for the fact that the elements themselves are interrelated and inter-affected, and hence the created inter-dependencies form the fault-lines of any organization.

Now, it is very easy to take a narrow proclivity to the decision making process in an organization, by viewing every element as an isolated and independent agent, without considering the inter-dependencies. By focusing only on the tip and taking action, we ignore the hidden iceberg and the inherent dangers posed. Managers should make it a point to see the bigger picture, to understand that every element in the system is an inter-dependent agent of change, and lastly to never lose focus on the cornerstone of the business – the basic value proposition. In fact, by preserving and protecting these inter-dependencies, it has been clearly observed over a period of time, that the probability of failure for each element is significantly reduced, which in turn addresses the fault-lines of the organization automatically.

A typical example of this disconnect is the way human resource management (HRM) is conducted in the organizations of today. Most of them believe in a policy enforcement methodology rather than inculcation of responsibilities and values through the freedom of creativity and individuality. We must never forget, not even when blinded by corporate ignorance and ruthlessness, that the employees who work for us are no less human than us, with their share of conditioning and life patterns. People can, and definitely will, change as and when the respective situations in life call for the change; but to force the change for measuring quantifiable results is demeaning to the human spirit, the same that exists be it in employee as well as employer.

Policies and procedures were created to streamline the developmental process, and these are not binding in any way. The developmental process is the paramount aspect to any business, the central objective and task, around which all other efforts and engagements take place. It is the primary responsibility of all these support engagements to adapt to and find workarounds for any issues that might impede this developmental process. However, in many organizations, especially startups and those without a clear idea of workforce management, the rigidity of human resource management (HRM) policies proves to be otherwise by actually impeding the developmental process. Where is the adaptation that is much required to handle the potential of the workforce in an effective and efficient manner?

Human beings are by nature, individualists and freedom seekers who need this environment of independence to evolve into their finest potential, manifesting their true capabilities. With the world as their playground and life as their instrument of application, there is no limit to the grandiosity of human endeavors. But, to stifle this basic requisite of freedom is to curb the powers of imagination and creation that helped mankind make the world as we know it today. Man is not to be tied down and made to work on his creativity, as oxen are made to plough the fields. Any attempt to do so will only result in grave consequences and frequent delays to whole projects.

Any project working on developing an idea or a concept, a product or a service will definitely involve creative elements that require unconditional leniency to pursue their individual techniques. A creative element most always goes through a three phase cycle of learning, incubation and visualization, and each phase has its own distinctive modus operandi, which is very much related to the psychological profile of the creative element. To ignore this relation, to suppress or ‘discipline’ this profile to prevalent stereotypes in society, is tantamount to ripping the very creative power off the element.

Human resource management (HRM), as well as all other functions supporting the developmental process of any organization, should therefore, drop all rigidities and attempts to form regulations without considering all the inter-dependencies between the various elements, as well as the creative freedom of those involved in key design areas of a project. Take examples from major innovators like Apple and Google, where creative excellence is given the highest regard and hence their work culture is also suitably adapted to keeping this flow of creativity going. It is no wonder then that these companies are the leaders in their respective fields, and will continue to flourish as long as that spirit of human freedom and exploration of experience is kept alive.

The Passing Night

The light dawns on a new day, without any sense of misery
A gentle warmth shall cause the night spirits to fade away
When the wind beckons the breath to life, the thoughts ask
To be in a state of constant reprieve, to be alone and afraid
Beyond the dreams that spread wings at night, in the mind
In realms far away, worlds of many hue and beautiful too
Not just to the sight and the sound and the touch, yet more
We are here and also in every other time and place at once
Tracing the journey of a million lifetimes along the choices
All made to satisfy the curiosity of where this road leads us

The Question of Life

Where do I exist, of what dimension of thought do I live in?
Sometimes these haunting concepts are hard to shake away
I wonder about my time and space in the context of things
Of what relationships bind me to the colors that I perceive
When the bubble that I grew up in burst, everything ended

Show me the sense of life when all I live for is light and love
I have burnt my hands many times trying to build bridges
Between the world I live in and that which I left behind me
To endure the pain I have caused to all who are in transition
Is a misery that no matter how hard I tried can be forgotten

What I see is the world of tomorrow, a world without walls
A season of change bringing the eternal spring of the soul
Every step I take in this forest of revelations is true to me
The breath of freedom engulfs my state of pure existence
Of what reasons shall I provide to justify the peace I feel?

The story of my journey is an analytical text of experiences
A psychedelic adventure of the spirit as it reclaims itself
From the mind’s labyrinth where it lay for unknown æons
How can I then stay within the limits of temporality here
When there are universes to be explored and forsaken?

In a cocoon of confusion was unlocked wisdom’s mystery
Answers deciphered in the depths of helplessness guide
Our path through this terrain and under a mist of illusions
Is there a meaning in the darkening of our many moods
While unknowingly traversing the by-lanes of memory?

When we reply to the queries of the past and perchance
What if we miss the golden goblet in the pursuit of logic?
Do we then rethink our choices, sit in a corner and cry?
I have felt the sting of survival to weep over lost causes
Today is only a matter of remembrance, of why I’m here

The Essence of Life

Death is an affirmation of life that we all have to accept. Without any doubt or questioning on our part, we have to face the reality of our death, which may happen this very moment or in many years to come. So instead of procrastinating to this acceptance for later on, why not surrender to death this moment while alive? To answer this question, we need to understand what ‘being alive’ really means. What is life and what sustains it, would be the appropriate questions to define the epistemic comprehension of ‘being alive.’ I would place the answer to this form of questioning, the direction of this dialectic, as the simple propagation of thought. Because the continuity of our thinking, right from the age when we started thinking (which surprisingly, the vast majority of us would never remember) till this very moment is the basis of our unflinching belief and our knowledge of our ‘being alive’ and ‘feeling of life.’ Something deep within and unknown to our defining capability, some sort of energy or power is felt, that brings forth this belief and gives us this knowledge.

Maybe, according to my primitive approach to this line of questioning, the first cause we had for thinking was hunger. Why was hunger so necessary, and so important in being the origin of thought? Because hunger was our first reaction, the body’s reaction, towards sustenance; and so we cried and displayed thereby our first emotion. The body instinctively knew that without food it would perish. Which means death, and the ending of the feeling of ‘being alive.’ From there, the satisfaction of being fed coupled with the warmth of the feeding breast gave the first feeling of pleasure, and thereby the thoughts of attachment and happiness. Slowly the defining capacity of the mind models and labels our world with all its people, things and situations. The years roll on with all this labeling of the information gathered, the memories stored and habits cultivated, and these take its toll on the intelligence aspect of the mind. To make it falsely believe in its dependence on people, things and situations, or rather the world that we live in and equate it with the belief and feeling of ‘being alive.’ That deeper something within us is wholly forgotten, only to be replaced by a system of thoughts and concepts, like religion, tradition, customs and superstition. Such a fragile system is it, that even the smallest misgivings and trials of error can bring down its stability drastically. Alternating with these are moments of euphoria from desires and sensory pursuits, which confound the ignorance of truth and conceal it well.

I have a dog that is taken care off, given food and groomed well, and given regular sessions of affection. The dog will not leave my company in search of freedom, nor attack me because it has found security and a feeling of safety, which is the same as ‘being alive’ for it. The same dog if harmed or provoked to a great extent might bite me, yet it will stay because of its attunement to a sense of security and safety, which in its ignorance it is afraid it will never get elsewhere. Observe our usual living situations in any society, and the same behavior described above is clearly seen. Maybe we feed instead of being fed, and still the it is the feeling of responsibility or an attachment built on habit that replaces that original feeling of hunger and sustenance of one’s own life. We lead lives no more different than that of the dogs, and yet we are somehow different. I am aware of this difference, while a dog is not, and so I write. Show me one dog that has said otherwise.

In such a case what is stopping me from exposing this ignorance and living a life of freedom? If we attempt an explanation by bringing in the concept of love as the cohesive force behind relationships and attachments, then it is a very vain attempt. For love is not affection or attachment, but the very same as the feeling of ‘being alive’ and it is all-inclusive, with absolutely no conditions applied. So long as we do not mistake love for the desire for company and companionship that all started with the pleasure arising from the warmth of the feeding breast pushed into our mouth to satisfy our hunger, and the reason for our first thought. The moment of consciousness of this ignorance, we become conscious of the something within, the something that makes us believe we are alive, that which tries to sustain this belief through our bodily reactions, like hunger.

This is what leads us to the knowledge of reality, knowledge of our built up system of thought and thereby the modeled world, with its people, things and situations, all the passions, irritations and intuitions. By ‘being alive’ and accepting death, we bring about an end to this ignorance and all associated agitations of the mind, the very cessation of thought itself. In speaking thus, we comprehend the utter insignificance of attachments and relations, of our trying to force and condition other individuals and the foolish attempts to change our world while still blanketed in ignorance, finally forsaking our freedom and thereby curtailing others’.

Having come to this conclusion, which is only possible by utilizing the intelligence aspect of the mind and not by leading a thought-propagated, habitually and conditionally ignorant life, similar to that of my dog’s, we realize the essence and meaning of life itself. Absolute freedom, pure existence and evolution of consciousness are definitive concepts that an intelligent entity can ascribe to the essence of life. But when truer realization occurs, in that minutest instant, we become aware of that something deep within, something pure and powerful, beyond words and definitions. Something that nullifies all our fears and ends all conflict, the very source of infinite peace and timeless wisdom. That something is the essence, that which invokes within us the feeling of ‘being alive.’

The Conquest of Reason

“Beyond desires remains the true meaning of life.”

The mind plays the role of the constructor of life and the architect of the world that we live in, through the senses and through the intellect. But we choose to remain within this constructed world throughout our years spent toiling for an understanding of why we are here. There is a definitive purpose for all our actions from the moment of birth till the last breath taken, and yet somehow this purpose lies forgotten and buried under the seemingly endless tirade of actions based on motive and pursuits of the desire based journey that we live through. Why is this so?

The difference between animal based life forms and that of a human is the complex entity of intelligence. An animal life is purely sensory and intuitive such that a response mechanism guides the life pattern in all its activities, be it eating and drinking, territorial conquests and procreation, killing based on self survival and ultimately death due to physical deterioration. Take the average human life and all these animal patterns exist but the intelligence quotient separates them significantly. We think in a similar way as animals do, but refinement elevates the human life to a plane of inquiry into the unknown. We are singularly aware of this unknown dimension in all of us, and yet we prefer to ignore the call of inquiry by putting layers and layers of animal functionality and habitual pleasure seeking that by the time we are finished with all these diversions it is too late in the evening of life and we are sapped of our energy to make any form of useful inquiry.

Animals do not reason with their worldly interactions and life situations, simply for the reason that they do not have the intellectual capability to rise above simple intuitive survival and question the motive of life; they live and they just die. Man on the other hand is able to question, regardless of whether the answers are available to the intellectual entity. And so starts the process of knowledge gathering through sensory data and eventually the need to reason with this data becomes inevitable as certain answers are impossible to be gained through simple sensory perception. To reason is the highest form of intellectual activity because here we are dealing with a realm of thought that has no direct contact with the subject matter that is being analyzed. For any philosopher, the only instrument of power is this ability to reason. On several occasions we have disparate sensory information being simultaneously processed that most people completely ignore any attempts to understand the phenomenon of life, instead replacing such attempts with ritualistic actions and repetitive social conventions and traditions so that they needn’t feel inadequate to perform the primary requisite of human life that is inquiry, which is also why philosophers and thinkers form a minute fraction of the total human populace.

It is rather strange how man can get caught in the hypnotic syndrome of staunchly adhering to society and its illusory appearance of security that the only difference between man and animal, being questioning and reasoning, is conveniently forgotten and buried under the burden of fears and complexes of repercussions from the very society that was intended to provide safety. As long as we assume the protection of this safety net called Society, we shall never progress from our animal nature to that of a human being, and ironically life shall never make any sense because what we were born to do shall forever remain undone. And why this is so, is a question that still remains.

The human mind shall never rid itself of desires, so why not transcend every other desire with the urge to inquire? To restrict any urge without properly understanding the reason for restraint is to create conflict and this being the sole cause for all forms of stress and tension in our temporal lives cannot be overcome by what is known as the personal will. In fact what is known as the will is but a figment of our imagination as the cause-effect theory proves: every action of ours, including thoughts is the direct result of a causative action or thought, and so by the principle of regression ad infinitum the sum total of all our activities is predetermined. The concept of free-will is applicable only when we view life within the interval between our individual births and deaths, but without taking into consideration the effects of other individuals such as parents, relatives, members of society and such. But this is a sheer impossibility as the inter-connectedness of every aspect of the universe is scientifically and rationally proven by the Theory of Relativity. Therefore coming back to the question of transcending desires is not within our control, or for that matter nothing is. But what is within our functionality is the capacity to be aware of all mental constructs, thereby being aware of the whole world and life in general. By being aware, which is to say by simply observing, we shall have the power to change as well.

What is observation, or the capacity of awareness? How does this simple yet effective awareness grant us the power to change? When we realize that what we really are is not this mind-body complex, ruled by the duality of causation and reaction, but inherently the very entity that keeps in motion the entire construct of life and thereby the creation of the whole world being perceived through the mind-body complex of each and every imagined individual, then the awareness is simply a matter of pure existence. Like the camera which projects the image, and yet has nothing to do with the images projected like a silent observer, the real ‘I’ in us can be aware of the mind and its games. And as Heisenberg asserted in his celebrated Uncertainty Principle of Quantum Theory, the very act of observation alters that which is being observed. So in reality, the moment we realize who we are and our ignorance that so far kept us from understanding our separateness from the mind, in the same way we realize that ‘I and my leg are not the same,’ that everything we see, feel and perceive is a product of this ignorance, including the very instruments used for this perception, only then do we suddenly discover awareness or true objective observation of the great and absolute truth. In that very instant we transcend space and time, cause and effect and ultimately the very cause of all our ignorance, the mind.

But all this is irrelevant if we only intellectualize about it, for it is the comprehensive realization that can grant us the power to change. Otherwise we are still kept running within the hamster-wheel which is our mind. Reasoning helps to break the cycle, to rid ourselves of our fears and misapprehensions and become free. But even reasoning can happen only to one who is totally aware, even if it is only of the hedonism of our lives and the sheer helplessness of it all. As Socrates put it wisely, ‘scio me nihil scire’ meaning ‘I know that I know nothing,’ implies that the moment we realize all our mental constructs and conditioning, our knowledge and knack of living is completely insignificant shall bring us into the pristine purity of tabula rasa or ‘a clean slate’ on which the highest truth of our existence, the Eternal Wisdom of Life, can be clearly etched. And once realized, the Truth shall set us free.

So the purpose of our life, the only question that we as humans were born to answer is this: do we continue treading the path we walked so far, or are we ready for the final quest, the conquest of reason...

Reality Is Only An Opinion

I choose to leave all questions unanswered
To find the lost way, out of all definitions
My words may offend you in every possible way
But what is real is all that matters to me
So I know that reality is only an opinion
Thoughts constituting the valid experiences
Presented to us on silver platters constantly
Then why should I trust these or any other
When all that seems to be is so beyond me
The mind that reforms and regulates deceives
I restrict and the reaction is more dangerous
And when left to its vices, resuscitates me
What is me is not the real me, do you see
Am I speaking nonsense, or do you believe
When everything is said and done, your opinion
Is more yours than of any use to me, because
I really know that reality is only an opinion
Which each of us is entitled to set free
But under the burden of the past preferences
Our experiences kept under lock and key
Without any lessons learnt, but crying
For a better tomorrow, even if today is all
That we have to make a definite change
Life's purpose forgotten beneath tradition
And all that is left is the dust of time
To be wiped off the soul's doormat forever
Sense and senselessness coexist, in the realm
Of Being, something that keeps us alive
But nothing changes, as we still cling on to
Our shackles and chains of pitiful bondage
To break these and set our destiny free is
When we know that reality is only an opinion

Aware of a Higher Peace

Stillness roars to a crescendo as the summit
towers high above the limits of sight.
Of ageless symphony the green peaks
reverberate till the mind fades away.
In a new dimension of timelessness does
the consciousness find itself stranded.
And slowly whatever concepts constructed
by the feeble entity that 'I' am dies.
Only to be replaced by a void of such
meaning that only existence remains.
There is more than meets the mind's eye
and to comprehend rationally is absurd.
But when the depth of reason is transcended
what reality was hidden slowly dawns.
From the darkness does emerge a brilliance
so far forgotten beneath human folly.

The Unrevealed Plot

Beyond a sequestered role I play in this divine unfolding
A tale of thoughts rising towards a higher point of hope
No concern for the fallen lives lead, forgetting wisdom
The colors seen are the comforts held as the sole gain
I dream for the attunement of my soul to the greater joy
For long has all other beacons of life diminished here
Compared to the consequences of walking the median
A golden path revealed to the inner eye, the mystic man
Hidden from the normal tidings of emotions and errors
No fault shall keep the slumbers of the mind from going
Privy to designs of strange concepts, of why and the how
Magnitudes change, and what is seen can never be same
Of what lies across the discriminating line, divulge them
Rather to keep the score settled, and walk the lonely road
There is no doubt, of true solitude nor of the real purpose
Our game remains constant regardless of what the play
And so I remain without qualms, about the role and me
Of how the pieces fit, of what lies after the curtains fall
As long as the light shall shine, these lines should go on

Wanderlust

Bespoken highways gathering dust, o'er the noontide
Sunbeams dreaming forth a fury of the wilder realm
I have long known the end of this road being walked
Yet what sense can calm the mind's furious preying
Dirty by lanes retreating from the core of confusion
Seeking that which never was lost, always obscure
Recover the covert light and cleanse the dark past
Of frustrations and feelings of contempt, also pain
What was written as a stray case of claustrophobia
Is nothing but the relentless pursuit of singularity
The oneness of all being and the truth behind all lies
Mystical proportions attributed to our simple lives
That Gods of war and the Demons of change rule
An impending doom for the species of an ignorance
Every step into the strange terrains of existence
Taken with the sole initiative to uncover purpose
Strides of glory are these that shall never falter
Raising the mist of glorious years trailing together
Vengeance is the way of life for the fools surviving
The onslaught of Time's pitiless foray into destiny
Each day just lived an died on a whim of pleasure
And so that life of wanton ills and bloody thrills
Have I forsook for the final journey of deliverance
My soul has resorted to the life of an adventurer
No intentions ever, to stop till the Heart is found
Till then this wayfarer shall know no rest, respite
Nor the roads of men choosing to live in ignorance
Roam till the ends of the mindspere, finding reality
Such are the musings of the sufferer of wanderlust

The Paradox of Knowledge

What we refer to as knowing the known relates to knowledge as we recognize it in the elementary frame of reality. Everything that we define in terms of name and form, of concept and theory is but only an extension of our mind, which is predicated by the rules we ourselves have developed over the existent lifetime of humanity. Everything deemed logical is but designed to be so by none other than the authors of logic, that being verily us. Having said as much, then all that is known is irrelevant to us when it comes to the higher questions of truth and existence, and maybe in many ways unsympathetic to our quest for the same.

But to know the unknown is justly a paradox, for everything known is created and manipulated by us, an endeavor undertaken to keep our frame of being grounded to the falseness of reality that we survive in. Our every thought and action that makes up our daily lives creates the illusion of sanity and truthfulness in this structural universe, in a sense it is this illusion that keeps the world on the move. For without this apparent deception the entire totality of creation as we know it would come to a point of inflection. Which is what’s happening currently, as we move faster and faster into what McKenna referred to as the constant acceleration towards ‘timewave zero’ or involution as opposed to evolution.

To understand the unknown with the very same faculties of knowledge that also created the rules for ‘imagining the apparent known’ is what I call as a paradox. These instruments of deception are unworthy of trust when dealing with the Real and Absolute Truth; they serve us no purpose other than to deal with the complexities of survival in the labyrinths of life’s riddles. But to turn the focus of observation from the external affirmatives that the mental instrument projects to model the living universe, and use that focal energy to study the apparatus of logic would in some way give us hints or clues to the nature of Reality. What we must understand and accept is that this is not a choice of solution, but the only available avenue of experience towards the Cause behind all causes.

Some may argue that this is intellectual gibberish, metaphysical jugglery intended to waste time and effort that otherwise could be spent for more productivity in life. But then what is time? And effort towards productivity of what? Time is only another construct of the mind designed for the sole purpose of enslaving the being into the maze of births and rebirths. The productivity that we speak off, leads to the cause for more and more, desire being the anticipatory catalyst for all of life’s produce. Tell me if any of our material dispositions have ever led us to the source of all creation, if they have even brought us to the brink of questioning our causes. Nay, for they exist only for the keeping of our attention within the known, incarcerating our curiosity towards the unknown. Because the unknown has the key to our liberation from this unconsciously self-proclaimed prison, there shall never be self-conscious attempt to decipher its hidden secrets.

Such is the paradox of knowledge!