The unexamined life

Socrates said at his trial this famous quote " The unexamined life is not worth living". Amongst all philosophers ,  Socrates  believed that philosophy – the love of wisdom – was the most important human pursuit above all else. For some, he exemplifies more than anyone else in history the pursuit of wisdom through questioning and logical argument, by examining, by thinking and by introspecting  . His 'examination' of life in this way spelled out into the lives of others, such that they began their own 'examination' of life, but he knew they would all die one day, as saying that a life without philosophy – an 'unexamined' life – was not worth living. This is one of the reasons my blogs are always about my own monologues , are the "click stream" data about my constant stream of thoughts . Since I went off Social media platforms for third time in last 12 years , i realised , we are increasingly becoming a constant victim of see what others are seeing and not in creating your own thought stream . Today's blog is again about thoughts I have chewed on , some experiences of the last two months . Some of these thoughts are like a  sudden flash , a sudden realisation which can only be termed as divine incidents . 

Observe the Anadi : I observe trees carefully , they age as well , like humans , they however become stronger with age till a bigger force comes and uproot them , their death is always an accident or a planned sabotage . There is a place in Haridwar called "Mayadevi temple " and there was  a huge land lot around it. In my childhood , the stories were that Ganga Jee would swell  up to fill that lot , it had happened once before partition of India . There is an old banyan tree in that land lot but sadly that place is called Mayadevi Parking (everyone forgot the temple ) the tree is still around , civilisations have come and gone , rulers have , technologies have come and gone . There is a word in Upanishads , its called Anadi which means timeless ,  does not mean old, it means beginningless.  Anadi means that which has no beginning, the beginningless. It does not mean ancient as you seem to think. However old and ancient a thing may be, it has a beginning, but truth has no beginning. And that which becomes old cannot be truth , its ever relevant , I then wonder what aspects of human life are Anadi . If there is (God Forbade ) a nuclear war tomorrow and 99.99% if us vanish . The reason I say 99.99 % is that there are thousands of planes in the air , in cruise ships , in remote islands that unless it is a cosmic incident , man made incidents can not make humanity vanish . If that happens , what won't change , emotions wont , have they changed , have they evolved ?. There are needs which change with time , what does not change is Anadi . Human love is Anadi , versions of it , the propensity to reproduce , maternal love , desire to form social connect and conjugality remain unchanged . Social beliefs change overtime . Last month, I had the good fortune of visiting the Chennakeshava temple at Belur , it took 103 years to build and it was started in 1117, every statue , every wall is a piece of hard work , planning and meticulous execution , all are masterpieces . They talk about art , pleasure , beauty , seduction , knowledge and tell a tale in their own term.  When we stepped out  of the temple , I was thinking , all humans around  here have a shelf life of say 68 years (average ) . This temple , these trees , have survived for much much longer , yet as humans we don't value their existence. People follow politics , cricket , bollywood  and what not . Much of which will come and go . Personality is a showpiece. It can deceive others, but it cannot deceive you, at least not for long. That's why some people pursue philosophy or spirituality . They are  tired, and exhausted with the packaging of shallow issues . But old habit persists a little longer. If you look at the civil services examination , it's a  lot about knowledge , about knowing and answering , is it the same as wisdom . We are making heroes out of politicians , cricketers, actors and even stand up comics are source of inspiration . If people ask me who is my hero or inspiration , I always had a different answer but never a  musician . The musician is the performer of music , but who made the music , look at the tabla and think . Tabla, by the way , despite the myth that It has Arabic origin has similarity to a damru and can be seen in Hoysala temples in the statues . It has a wooden or earthen pot covered in metal and has leather (animal skin ) on top , the black portion is solidified ink . Now who should i consider hero , the instrument , the player or the sound it creates and I connect with . To me personalities like Krishna , Gautam Buddha , Socrates and Sigmund Freud are heroes. The man who invented the ballpoint pen or an MRI machine is a  hero . They created Anadi . Human mind is limited, hence it creates divisions -- past, present and future. The present is that which for a moment appears on the screen of the mind, and the past is that which is no more on the screen, and the future is that which is not yet. But let me tell you: all is, and always is. Nothing ever goes out of existence, and nothing ever comes into existence.

Everything persists, remains.

Time is a false notion created by the mind. Clock is an equipment man made to build discipline , earth had "clockwork" , sun rose before man and will after man too . Eternity is truth, timelessness is truth. Anadi is truth.  

Daag Dehlvi was born in 1831  and died in 1905 , in 2019 , I remembered one of his writings which seems so timeless, so Anadi . 

Tamasha  ae Dair o Haram dekhte hain , Tujhe Har bahane se hum dekhte hain .

I see the chores of the world around me and I still pursue you (divinity) in every form and expression .  

Hamari Taraf ab woh kum dekhte hain , Vo Nazarein nahin Jinko hum dekhte hain . 

Although it is written as a ode to the beloved , has another connotation in seeking divinity . Ghazals have this unique ability to carry a  multi connotation expression , unique in its genre . 

Zamane ke kya kya sitam dekhte hain , Hamin jaante hain jo hum dekhte hain ...

I know what i bear , only I know what I go through . This is my most favourite sher . 

Phire But Kade se to ae Ahl e Kaaba , Phir aa kar tumhare qadam dekhte hain .

Although this means , people who didn't want to worship idols , found solace in Kaaba but still were slaves of the rulers of the day (daagh was a darbari poet , this is sarcasm to the ruler , that despite  a kaaba , the king though he was God ) 

Hamein Chashme e Bina dikhai deta hai sab kuch , vo andhe hain jo jaam ae jam dekhte hai . 

Jaame a Jam is the bowl of Jamsheed in which he saw whatever he wished to see, the poet says , he believes in no fairy tale or illusions , I think therefore i know such fallacies are spread . 

Kabhi dekhte hain woh khanjar ko apne, kabhi nabz ae bismil mein dum dekhte hain . 

The "killer" sometimes looks at his  knife (in bravado ) and sometimes checks the pulse of the wounded . Such is man , we kill and we pretend we don't . I see people who talk about animal rights and compassion wearing leather shoes and having chicken wings while doing that . 

Ghanimat hai chashm ae taghaful bhee unki , bahut dekhte hai,  jo hum dekhte hain . 

Here Chasm ae tagaful means , eye of ignorance , means ...Ignorance is bliss ...I see enough to be worried . 

Salamat Rahe dil, Bura hai ke achha , hazaron mein ye ek dum dekhte hain . 

Emotions are never bad , their manifestation is open to interpretation of good and bad ....

Be the Mirror :  I am often asked , why such non productive , non career oriented, unprogressive  thoughts are penned in my blogs . I usually have no answer , I have become like this . To me . Universe or divinity is a  mystery , which will manifest itself in a million ways . Man or humans are primarily hunters , gatherers and Survivors . We lived like that for 700000 (yes seven hundred thousand ) years . Our minds have been trained like that , its imprinted in us , we hunt , we gather and we survive , forms have changed . People hunt for mating partners on tinder now , gather a balanced investment portfolio (whatever that financial gibberish ever meant ) and survive (corporate politics and road rage ) . Mind is still trained to do these three . Train in the two—giving and taking—alternately. These two are to be mounted on the breath. We are not trained to "think" , we are educated to "know" . We are not trained to love , because love is giving , selfless giving . Romantic love isnt "giving" , its barter trade at best , Giving is selfless . People in  the society are busy in self-love, selfishness is needed for survival , so when we don't see beyond our self our own circle,  our mob , how will we absorb divinity ? You need to be alone to hear the rain , smell the wind  , it cant be done sitting in a  noisy pub .  Obsession with  self-love is the main obstacle between us and universe . 

The other day I was listening to bulleshah and noted  a very deep verse . 

maahi ve tere vekhan nu, chuk charkha gali vich daava

For you beloved to notice me , I have taken my charkha (weaving ) to the street so that you stumble upon me. 

Ve  Lokaa Bhaane mein qat dee  , Tand  teriya yaada de paava (for the world I weave cotton , i weave your memories , i knit dreams of being with you ) 

Now think of this , First an observation of the universe , travels to you , talks to you and then becomes your own thought , your thoughts hence become your personality. It all starts at the observation end .  As i said above, we are slaves of the mob mentality .   I use that word often , that's the reason i don't like to attend weddings , birthdays , anniversaries , parties , they are all Mob events . We behave like a organised mob , each one aping another one . Individuality gives you mastery; it makes you very authentic, grounded, rooted. It gives you substance; you are no longer dream stuff. It gives you solidity, it gives you clarity,transparency, vision. It makes you aware of the beauty of existence, it makes you aware of the beauty of all. "I" is the issue , tiny bubble of existence we are , one micro clog in an artery and we are gone . But our ego rules , a very subtle ego, so subtle that it will be almost impossible to detect it. so unless you reclaim  humbleness, nobodiness, humility, universe is invisible to you . In my last blog , i mentioned about the 21 grams of soul , mankind operates in such  a short window , painkillers have a very small window of operation , 650 mg is one dose (thats .65 of a gram) adjusted to average weight being 65 kilos , earlier was 500 mg . so, in a day , you could consume , like 2 grams to kill pain of 65 kilos of a body , now consider , average male sperm ejaculation is 2 to 5 ml , that leads to a pregnancy . The hormones which control the way emote , are released in 2-5 ml range. A clog in your arteries could actually be not even seen with naked eye , is that small and we yet think we are big and mighty . Think big and small both . Every day the human is realising the fragile bubble in air he is , more and more ordinary. If all these realities are made known in education ,  then life will become impossible. So we create fantasies, fables, fictions, to create some consolation, to create a little cozy atmosphere. We create sports , casinos, rock concerts , to distract you . it is not real, at least you can dream, you can fantasize, you can believe that if it is not real today, tomorrow it is going to be real.  These are make-believes. People believe in the immortality of the soul because they are conscious of death -- not that they know the soul is immortal, but just because they see everybody dying, they know the certainty of death. Now, how to escape from a certainty? Create a fiction. Remember, I am not saying that the soul is not eternal, I am simply saying that people's belief that the soul is eternal is a fiction. The belief is a fiction.

People believe in a "God" who cares, one who is a "superpower" because they feel so uncared for. Nobody cares about them, they feel so left alone, nobody seems to be interested in them; whether they live or die will not matter. They have to create a father figure high in heaven who cares for them. Even if nobody cares, God cares. It is a great solace. In the name of religion, in the name of literature, in the name of poetry, music, we have been creating fictions -- we create a few buffers around ourselves, so the shocks of reality don't reach to us. You must have seen buffers in railway trains. Between two bogies, two compartments, there are buffers, so if somehow some accident happens, the compartments don't run into each other and the shock of the accident can be absorbed by the buffers. Cars have springs so that you don't feel the bumps on rough roads. Those springs go on absorbing the bumps, the shocks; they are shock-absorbers. Man has created many psychological shock-absorbers around himself.  Spirituality is about dropping all shock-absorbers and at least try to be free . I have not even started in this journey , I am still exploring  and want to be a mirror , so that some part of me can make my real self see itself . 

As usual a Ghazal , Ghalib this time . 

Some of my fav shers ...

Ye kahaan ki dostee hai ke bane hain dost naaseh, koi chaarasaaz  hota, koee gham gusaar hota.....

kahoon kis se main ke kya hai, shab-e-gham buri bala hai, mujhe  kya  bura  tha  marna ....... agar ek  baar hota......

koi mere dil se pooche tere teer-e-neemkash ko, ye khalish kahaan se hotee jo jigar ke paar hota......

hue mar ke ham jo ruswa, hue kyon na gharq-e-dariya...na  kabhi janaza  uthta, na  kahin mazaar hota

ye masaail-e-tasawwuf (matters of spirituality )ye tera bayaan 'ghalib' !

tujhe ham walee samajhate, jo na baada_khwaar hota

Oh! these topics of mysticism and those words that you say, Ghalib. We would have considered you as our chief had you not been a boozer. The poet in a classic tone of hauteur says all these complex matters/themes of reality and supernal truth and your spoken words Ghalib. We would have regarded you as a chief/lord had you not been a wine drinker that you are. Consider the poet closing his ghazal with such skilled and subtle disdain that Ghalib has all the answers for the ultimate reality of this mortal world, but let's not patronize him as a head for he is a drinker :)

Today's song is one by Bir Singh , his writing is amazing , like Satinder Sartaj and Maan Sahab !

My Fav lines ...

jivein gajj mitti de gahk (client) nu , miljaye kull jahan , ni jivein kulli wala paa lave
arshan vicch makaan

Like dirt gets the sky , like the insect makes a castle in the sky ...I am elated like that

ni chadian de vehde aa javey, jivein aaye nitt mehman, jivein auna mari dhart tey….baddal meeh varsan (like valued guests at the bachelor pad )
hun mein chetti chauna vekkhna, teri chunni choin asman

meri kanni gunnjan ghodian, te sagna di taan, ni sabb mellian warga laggda (seems like festivities of a  wedding )

jo laggda si sunsan, tera jindgi wicch yoin avna, jivein moyan de wicch jaan
koi karde gall ikrar di, mein khull ke kran elan (You have come like life to dead)

gal na kar gunjall naal toon , jivein karan siasat daan (don't talk in a indirect way like politicians too )
ni mein siddha saddha gabbru, nahi bohta socchi waan (I am a simpleton and not intelelctual )
ni mein mada changga jo sahi.... haan tera chaavaan (beloved ) ..I may be good or bad ...i wish the best for you ..

ni sabb tere lekkhe la davan, mera jovi hai kakh kaan (all i have is urs, good or bad )
hun mein chetti chauna vekkhna, Teri chunni chu aasmaan ... (i wanna see the sky thru ur netted shawl - metaphor that stars dont exist in sky , they are weaved in the shawl )

Translations kill the essence , do no justice to the rustic true emotions :)