Monk Wisdom Series: Winning is ...... picking the right battle

Days passed by in the Sangha. Sangha was how they addressed the monk community. He learnt about the legacy, of a religion. Buddhism was attributed to a noble man who existed 2600 years ago. The man who was to become the Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama .HE existed as a Prince of a small territory near what is now the Indian-Nepalese border. He learnt how he was raised in splendid comfort and style, enjoying aristocratic status. But for this young man these pleasures remained useless. No amount of material pleasure could satisfy the curious and profound nature of the young man. It appalled to him how at such an young age of 29 he left palace and family to search for a deeper meaning in the secluded forests and remote mountains of North-East India. After studying the wisest literature, religious teachers, and philosophers of his time, he took a path of self- mortification, taking that practice to the extremes of asceticism.

It was just the beginning of another beautiful night. The sun was just beginning to find its way behind the mountains far way. The moon on the other hand was overjoyed with the all the space to itself. The clouds slowly shifted their loyalties from the sun to the moon. The transformation in their color said it all. The wide and strong river was flowing undisturbed down below. The water was mindless of the transformation up above. It flowed carelessly oblivious to nature. The disciple had his eyes fixed on the flowing water as he ruminated with his newly gained knowledge. The moon was coming up fast from behind the hills as it was in a hurry . Seeing all this seeded the thought of relationship in his mind. What a relationship he thought. One has to go before the other has to shine. The full moon had the aura of a winner and in its generosity flooded the earth as if it owned it.

These thoughts flashed like a movie in his mind. Winning, he thought. What is the meaning of all this? Does anybody win? Why is winning so important? Nodding his head in disagreement, he once again looked up. Not far away he saw a silhouette approaching him. The flowing robes gave away the personality of his master. Bowing in respect he asked the Master “Is winning so important in life?” The master was kind of expecting a question, took a deep breath and said “depends on what how you consider it. Sometimes you win to lose, while in some other situations you lose to win.” As usual, he saw the now familiar confusion in his disciple’s eyes.

Here is a short story to illustrate it. The two rats were always arguing who was the fastest amongst them. They would have race at every excuse and always it was undecided. This went on for days. They grew up like true rats and never matured. Winning the race always ruled their mind. It was raining heavily in the forest and food had become a scarcity. After several hours of scavenging, they found a bounty. Their find was a bunch of worms and mushrooms stacked by some other animal. Along with the rats there was a tortoise also when they found it. This led to a heated argument to decide who will eat it. They argued for hours. Finally, they hit on a plan. They decided to have a race. The tortoise said, "I know you both are very fast, but we will all race to the other side of the river. Whoever reaches to the other side first gets the food". The rats were game. At the count of three, they were off to a start. The tortoise ambled for a short while and saw the rats shoot into the water. Smartly, he conceded the race, walked back and made sure he had enough food for the next few days. Later he learnt that the rats drowned themselves in water.

Smiling to himself, he thought, “If you win the rat race, you're still a rat.” Winning is not everything, picking up the right battle to win is wisdom

Monk Wisdom Series: Is Absolute Silence...possible ?

Is absolute ‘Silence’ possible……? the disciple wondered sitting on the perch...staring at the the horizon.The birds were coming back home and the getting back into their cozy nests. Mars was shining bright and bold up above amongst the stars. Moving hips decorated the fields far away as women carried the days work back with them. The tormented mind could not make sense of anything at this time. The large pond was brightening up as it reflected the stars and a portion of the moon. By virtue, if there is noise around there must be silence he thought. But again...Does ‘Silence’ really exist ? Can there be ‘Silence’ at all?

Sitting alone and the night hurrying in was becoming worrisome for the disciple with all this confusion in his mind. The mind was giving away to the madness and he desperately swung his eyes in search of the Master. The familiar ochre robe was nowhere to be seen. The path to the monastery looked deserted and was punctuated by a few cows grazing the healthy grass. Then all of a sudden, he saw the silhouette arriving, with an aura of the setting sun following him. His heart leapt in anticipation. He needed an answer to silence his mind. Can you silence your mind? He thought again. At this point he was hopelessly confused.

The Master acknowledged the bow from his disciple and said “ Isn’t it so quiet and peaceful here?”. The disciple had no clue what he was saying. His mind represented a hung state with numerous unanswered questions.

“Is it possible to even experience absolute Silence?” asked the disciple impatiently.

The Master with his usual exuberance answered “Sound is a function of the brain and a subset of your mind. A tree falling in the forest doesn’t make a sound until the acoustic energy or sound waves hit an ear drum whereby a signal is sent to the brain and becomes sound for that entity. Sound to me is just an idea”.

He continued “So absolute silence can be thought of as a quiet mind. An empty mind void of content and when the awareness having nothing happening. To be aware of just nothing !!!! this is Internal Silence. Then you have the happening around you, outside that you have no control on. Everything keeps constantly changing. External Silence is therefore just a theory. To quote the ancient philosopher, Heraclitus, he maintained that everything is in a state of flux. Nothing escapes change of some sort; it is impossible to step into the same river”.

To me it never exists, because you cannot touch it, feel it, imagine it, taste it, dream about it……To say you cannot hear Silence, is an oxymoron, it's like saying 'Thinking about Nothing.'

The disciple just understood a part of it. He decided to challenge the Master again some other time. For now he just believed, Silence is elusive and looked forward to empty his mind of all other confusion.

Once he did that, he saw the beauty of nature with the Moon painting the landscape with its golden rays illuminating the dark cloud. As the clouds moved, the perspective changed and he hoped that as he matured in the monastery his perspective would change as well. Jerking his shoulders…Sigh(lence)…followed…

Romance in the Train

In college and living away from home can be lonely. Every quarter I enjoyed my visit back home. Traveling by train was challenging, but in your teens, can be romantic and exciting.

Several trips later, I was enjoying the time of my life - alone excited that I will be meeting friends and family. Once in a while, I missed the warmth that seemed to exude from this small family. I wasn’t lonely really, I had done so many visits back and forth that when I sat in the train I was used to seeing things from a bit of a romantic point of view during my journey. Don’t really know why, but that was the case with me. As I was seated, I was always seeing so many things I wanted to share with someone. I just didn’t have that someone to share with.

For an instant, that young girl across, looked at me making eye contact. I froze. I remember being still like a deer in the headlights. She seemed to be seeing right through me, as if to say she knew my heart,thoughts and desires. We looked at one another for a moment then she looked away. When she did, I felt something had been taken away from me, something I needed very much. I quickly finished the cola and wandered back to my top berth for a short nap. As I passed the young family I looked down and she looked up and smiled a smile I will never forget. What a beautiful embracing smile.

The nap was great and I woke up refreshed. I could smell the food. I was getting hungry after the nap. I don’t know why I was as hungry as I was? I had done nothing all day, but staring at people. The sun had already set, the coach was beautifully lit, lit by old smoky lights everywhere. It created such a romantic mood; I had a moment of remorse about being by myself. There was music coming from a violin like instrument, but more hoarse…that was being played at the far end of the coach by two beggars who I assumed was of some Gypsy decent. The girl was tall slim and wore a tight fitting black dress with black lace that dripped to her feet. The top was low cut exposing some flesh, enough to generate curiosity. The music was good but not soothing for me and it did spoil my mood and the ambiance

I ordered my meal, as the young family, was seated in front of me. I saw her eyes motioned to her father that she wanted to sit in a specific chair that faced me. As she sat down she looked at me and gave me a radiant smile, one that would melt any man's heart. I blushed red and quickly looked elsewhere as if not bothered by that look. I blushed because of the thoughts that engulfed me. The thoughts during the day, the romantic atmosphere, the lights everything had to be blamed.

I was thinking about her before taking my nap. If I thought she was pretty, she was beautiful at dinner. She had a body that I would describe as perfect. Slim and beautiful with she had smartness dripping all around to cause flood on the coach.

I tried to concentrate on food all the while trying to catch another glimpses of her in between without her seeing me. She noticed me twice looking straight at her and she responded with that beautiful smile. She slowly crossed and uncrossed her legs and I was sure I had soup dribbling down my chin. Then she began to swing her legs up and down in constant motion.

Those legs were enough to stop my heart. My station was fast approaching and I knew I had to talk to her at least once. With the family around I was still apprehensive. Biting nails and moving my fingers through my hair , I was thinking harder and harder…People stood up around me to alight. I had to get up too. I knew it was coming to an end. Another journey over. Thousand images filled my mind from the past 24 hours. Each one had her in them…

Then the inevitable happened. Still punching the keypad on her father’s phone, she came across to me and with her elbow brushed my hip and drew my attention…”Finally”…. I thought, I am going to leave and she wants my attention. Smiling at me with a little mischievous grin, she winked and said “Uncle , can you help me with this game?”. Her father returned and I excused myself standing realizing this small interchange with this little girl had kept me occupied for as long as I was awake.I nodded negatively at her and went towards the door, smiled and alighted and went my way..

As I lay on my bed that night I thought of how beautiful kids are. It does not matter if you know them or not, they are a treat to watch.. as a bundle of selfless thoughts, unbiased, pure reflection of God. How appropriately someone said “Kids are the most valuable natural resource in this world”

Words Worth

My Facebook wall screams,yet very few read:

Words are like autumn leaves, everywhere. Thoughts are like your garden, beautiful. Focus on your thoughts..nourish & nurture them...because they are truly yours...

What about words, they are all around us. And for me if it is out there it is mine.It does not matter if Wordsworth wrote it or Einstein. Everything I hear or see, I make them my own. I can take anything,anytime from anywhere and make them mine.

All this said, I have only one thing more to say :

Thoughts are mine and only mine.Words bring happiness to my thoughts. When happiness crawls in like it does now; I write and say "Thank You" to those words around me..