The Crutches

Your Principles, my Beliefs,
his Karma, her God,
our Truth, their Conscience,
Even though they all are supports, they are also crutches.

They are limiting as much as protecting,
They are a hindrance as much as a guidance.

Do you remember the last time,
when you realized the worthlessness of a principle,
Do you recognize the last time,
when our beliefs were used to separate us,

Do you remember the last time,
when you gave up on a challenge for the fear of karma,
Do you regret the last time,
When you questioned the wisdom of God,

Do you remember the time,
when truth made less sense than your faith,
and the time when your Conscience,
found convenient ways to hide itself in words.

Though they help you to stand where you are today,
Whatever is yours, are your crutches.

For now, let me make you stand on your feet,
For I know that you need to walk with me,
to wake me up whenever, I mistake my crutches for legs.

Are you in the illusion

Below is a transliteration and translation of one of the memorable works of Kanaka Daasa, a 16th century poet. I have not gone into summarizing or explaining it, as his songs are simple and catered to an audience with an intelligence requirement of just devotion.

Are you in the illusion
---- by Kanaka Daasa.

Do you reside in the illusion or is the illusion existing in you,

Are you present in the Body or does the body exist in you, O Lord!

Does the house exist in the field or the Field is in the house
Are both the field and the house in the eyes,
Do the eyes reside in the intellect or the intellect is in the eyes,
Are both the eyes and the intellect in you, O Lord!

Does the sweetness lie in sugar or the sugar exists in the sweetness,
Or perhaps both sugar and the sweetness are in the tongue,
Is the tongue in the intellect or the intellect is in the tongue,
Are both the the tongue and the intellect in you, O Lord!

Do the flowers have fragrance or the flowers reside in fragrance,
Or perhaps, both the flower and the fragrance are in the act of smelling,
Oh Lord Adikeshava of Kaaginele who has no equal,
I am incapable of explaining this, everything is in you, O Lord!

Transliteration (From Kannada to English)

nee maaye-yoLagO ninn-oLu maaye-yo

nee dEha-doLagO ninn-oLu dEhavO hariye

bayal-oLage aalayavo aalaya-dolage bayalo
bayalu aalaya-veradu nayana-doLago
nayana buddhiya-oLago buddhi nayanada-oLago
nayana buddhi-gaLeradu ninn-oLago hariye

savi-yu sakkare-yolago sakkare-yu savi-yoLago
savi-yu saakare-yeradu jihwe-yoLago
jihwe manasina-oLago manasu jihweya-oLago
jihwe manasu-gaLeradu ninn-oLogo hariye

kusuma-dali gandha-vo gandha-dali kusuma-vo
kusuma gandha-gaLeradu aaGraaNa-doLago
asama-bhava kaagi-nele-yaadi keshava-raaya
usura-lennaLa-valla ella ninn-oLago hariye

Pronounciation help for transliteration

• ee -> as in 'eel', example: nee
• e -> like an 'e' in begining of 'elephant', example: maaye
• E -> like an 'e' after 'a' in aeroplane, example: dEha
• L -> 'l' pronounced with a bent tongue like an 'l' in 'told', example: oLage
• O -> like an 'O' in 'Oats'
• d -> like 'th' in 'the', example: kusuma-dali
• dh-> like 'dh' in 'buddha', example: buddhi
• G-> like 'Gha' in 'Ghana', example: aaGraaNa
• n-> like 'n' in 'ten', example: nayana
• N-> like 'n' in 'tent', example: gaNapati

Words of Proactive Passivity

Not doing certain things is a doing in itself. But, how would you train your mind not to do things? Your mind is only trained to do.

Perseverance, is all about the compromises you dont make and Planning, is all about the chances you dont take.

Words which convey these things, are a boon to the Human mind. They make these things doable.

In our honest effort to provide help to a seeker, more often than not, we end up communicating our fears. Thus we take the person two steps back from the starting position.

The next time you hear yourself saying, ponder what you want to say: "Dont spill the tea over the speckless white dhoti" or "Keep your hand steady"

A few powerful people: Bus Driver

Life presents people in various capacities, colors and flavors. My mind wanted me to be one of each such inspiring people. They had something that made them powerful. Even though most of the experiences are attached to my early childhood, to a certain extent, I am still in awe of these people.

The Bus Driver
Who is not inspired by a manly bus driver who maneuvered the huge elephant like vehicle. With a conspicuously huge steering wheel being turned left to right, a dog shed like gearbox having a stick with a round blob like handle and a windshield as big as a cinema screen and with live vehicles zooming in from the opposite direction, it looked like being in control of the whole world.

He had a well shelved hair with a rich coat of coconut oil and a sharp mustache going good with the slagging khaki uniform which had two top buttons of the shirt open for ventilation. It gave a sense of him taking on the world for any challenges.

A transistor radio sized photo of the Deity, a set of disco lights going along its perimeter and a display plate hanging reverse indicating the destination of the way back, all added to the mystery of his cockpit like room.

Every now and then, he would generously stop and share pleasantries with another driver driving a similar monster. He would also give expert comments to the enviably privileged people sitting in the cockpit on what mistakes the other drivers on the road were doing, whats happening in the local village panchayat politics and also how useless the state government has been for the last five years. With his general knowledge he could easily have replaced my class teacher.

Once back at home, lots of buses would start on imaginary routes. A handful of kids in the neighborhood would become drivers of their own buses and head in various directions with sounds of “Drrrrrrrrr Drrrrrr Pom Pom” and stopping every now and then for an interlude of “Bangalore Manglore Mysore Dharwad ...”. A by looker would be amused by the number of cities catered by each bus.

A close to healthy competition existed between each driver as each one tried to race each other off the road, and this was in spite of being on the way to cities in different directions. A sense of balance still persisted among all the experienced drivers who managed to keep themselves on the paths made by mud mounds separating the paddy fields.

Like the normal roads, driving became a expert's task when it rained and clogged the lush green paddy fields with water. There were a few accidents in the rainy seasons with the usual new driver on the track tasting a bit of mud water. The other drivers would stop to observe a minute of absolute amusement.

The driver devils would then be distracted off the youngsters' bodies by packs of white bead like frog eggs lying in the water. All the drivers would then ditch their buses, some of them having color video coach and settle down into a session of discussion on how frogs come out of these beads and also about how big an omelet made of frog's eggs will be.

Apparently someone's mom happens to have a glimpse of the discussion panel and then chases everyone to a near by Well to clean themselves up.