Rediscovering Ourselves

Only one thing remains forever new till the end of life. It is knowing and rediscovering oneself constantly in new ways. All other things in life become old sooner or later. And how do we know, how do we rediscover ourselves? The answer is very simple. Life is an accumulation of numerous chapters just like a book. At every chapter of life we find ourselves in a new role. It is through our new roles that we come to know about ourselves in new ways. Only we need to keep ourselves engaged in some activity. The rest happens quite automatically. Thus we come to know about our strengths and weaknesses also. That prepares and equips us to face the external world.

At the early stage of life we are the children of our parents, then we become the life partner of someone, father or mother of our children. Then comes the stage to play the role of grandparents. Thus broadly also our life is designed in a way where we need to play different roles at different ages, multiple roles at the same age, and keep on rediscovering ourselves.

One must always try to be himself, not someone else.

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The Night

It is 12:35 am by my computer's clock. It is the month of July. The monsoon is in full swing. It is raining pretty hard outside. Just in front of my house there is a wood apple tree. Water is dripping, or should I say running, down its leaves. The street-light is getting reflected from the shinning leaves making the tree look like one that has been illuminated by a thousand lights. At a distance there is a palm tree, a betel-nut tree I suppose, standing tall against the dark sky. The sky at night appears a bit reddish in colour, rather than bluish, when there are rain-bearing clouds in the sky. Nights can be so wonderful, so mystic, yet very few people stay awake to see its beauty.

At least one half of the world is asleep, silent. The silence of the night is being disturbed by a continuous noise of falling water which possibly has accumulated on some neighbour's roof. But really is the night so silent as it appears? Possibly not. Silent nights are more lively and active than noisy day times. One has to have the inner eye to feel the silent harmony that exists in nature during the night. Such harmony cannot be found during the day time. It is during the night that everything grows. During the day time the world belongs to us. We use it according to our need. At night we belong to this world as it is during the night that we find ourselves in our spiritual form and all our spiritual longings come up to the surface. We tend to fall back during the night, whereas during the day time we keep on looking forward and we remain more human than spiritual. At night we feel selfless, compassionate, benevolent and altruistic. These characteristics can seldom be seen within us during day time.

It is darkness that brings us back to our spiritual senses. We keep on losing ourselves step by step during the day time, only to rediscover ourselves in a new light during the night. That way the night really does a world of good for us. Night has got an element of loneliness in it, which enables us to come within ourselves. It is at night that we can relate ourselves to the distant stars and the mystic moon. Our mind can then stretch itself as far as it wishes to. The mysticism of the moon can be understood very beautifully if we compare the distinct, different effects that a full moon has upon us as compared to the sliced moon. The sight of a full moon fills up our mind with love whereas the sight of a sliced moon arouses a tragic feeling. Darkness of the night reveals to us much more than what the broad daylight can. The night makes revelations, which have a profound, permanent, soothing effect upon us, which the daylight cannot. Night creates and recreates us so that we can carry on with our journey of life. At night we seem to communicate with some divine entity, some divine soul, that makes us fresh once again. Really morning never dawns upon him who cannot enjoy the darkness of night and hold it in his heart.

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The Wait

This is an old drawing done by me in pencil on wood. The picture has not come very good. Still I thought I can share.

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Essence of Complexity

Whatever we try to create ourselves, that becomes complex. Our relationships within the family are complex, our society is complex, and our lifestyle is complex, because these are man-made. Complexity makes things weak, simplicity makes things strong and easy to grasp. Religion has never been a complex stuff. From times immemorial, it has always been so easy to grasp. That is the universal religion, the religion of humanity.

If religious practices appear to be complex to us, that is because we have made it so. Instead of submitting ourselves to the simple religious faiths and beliefs, we have tried to mould religion according to our wishes, our needs, our faiths and beliefs. We have complicated religion with artificial practices, complex explanations and unrealistic imaginations, which make it so difficult to comprehend. We have curtailed religion in many a ways and tried to give it our own shape, and in the process fragmented it into innumerable parts and divisions. Religion does not change with time or place. As a gift of God, it remains same for everyone, same for every place and time.

We try to assume or imagine religion in a way that would bring comfort to our hearts. Our assumptions make it fragmented again and again, and we wrongly assume it as consisting of all the characteristics of this material world with its vast complexity. We try to build it in our own way. That eventually brings sorrow.

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Spirituality in easy words

Spirituality is an all-pervasive affair. It permeates into every facet of life. Religion provides the basis for it, but it transcends all religions, customs, practices, rituals and traditions. Basically spirituality extends beyond the limits of ordinary experience. It surpasses all that we perceive; it goes beyond the limit of all possible ordinary experience and knowledge. It goes beyond all our ordinary comprehension. To tell it in simple words, it begins at a place where perception of material existence ends. To reach that point seems to be our goal. Spirituality is to perceive and understand the easily unfathomable character of fundamental reality.

Our human experience always tries to digress us from the essence of spirituality, as we are humans. We are encircled by desires of all kinds. We tend to relate ourselves more and more to the material aspects of life. At every step we fail to keep us away from the corrupting influence of the material world. Material desires keep on growing. We fail to control it. We fail to perceive that desires are endless and materials are subject to decay. Sooner or later we will lose it. It is an inherent property of the material world. Our own joy and merriment engulfs us. We agree to do things which are acceptable in the human world but which are not approved in so far as purification of our souls is concerned. This list of humanly, but not spiritually, acceptable things are increasing by leaps and bounds. Many of these are spiritually unacceptable.

We tend to think that death can always bring us relief. We fail to comprehend that there is life after death. Our souls continue to live even after our death.

Even if we realize our mistakes, we feel afraid to rectify ourselves. Our ego prevents us.

In everyday life we hear things, we speak out words and we act in various fashions. We are mostly led by human thoughts, which are considered in isolation, without taking into account the distant effects of these thoughts. We do what we can do without ever considering the fact that it may not be honourable enough to do it. It may fill up my heart with joy and satisfaction, but it may rob someone else of his basic means of existence. We tend to consider love as a commodity.

We fail to comprehend that we all are connected, and in no way isolated. Whenever we think of us in isolation, we tend to go in the wrong way. We suffer. We fail to understand that we have not come to this world to enjoy all that is perfect and best. We have really come to this world to relate ourselves to the imperfections in a loving and caring manner so that these imperfections can be eliminated. We have to set things right in whatever small way we can. That is our job. From times immemorial, God is waiting for us to turn the imperfections into perfections. We have to improve upon the basic facilities that have been provided to us by nature and create a heaven on earth itself.

Also read: Spirituality in a nutshell | Spiritualization and common man

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Count your blessings

There is an unwritten principle in management study pertaining to decision-making. While selecting an alternative it is seldom a case of selection of the best. Mostly it is rejection of the worst. By keeping on rejecting the worst one can tend to move towards the best situation as much as possible and practicable. No harm if one cannot reach the best possible alternative. It may not be possible at all.

The same principle applies to various situations of our life. We must never feel annoyed if we are unable to reach the point which can be considered the best and the ideal. As much we can move towards that ideal, that much should be satisfying for us. Within such a compromise lies the essence of peace and happiness. To put it in other words, we must keep satisfied with what life has given us. However our endeavour should always be to attain the best possible. Our attainment, in most cases, may not be 'the best'.

We must always try to surpass our own achievements and keep on moving towards further prosperity. We must also try to honour our achievements. We must always try to count our blessings.

In a relationship also one must not make material pursuits its first and foremost basis. What one is supposed to gain out of a relationship is highly immaterial and abstract, which can only be felt by the heart. Failing to comprehend that feeling can disturb and destroy a relationship. Extreme caution needs to be exercised in all our dealings within a relationship. In a relationship one can only win by 'giving'. If one is not ready to give himself or herself, he is not worthy enough to enter into a relationship. If one can 'give', the 'takes' will pour in naturally.
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A bit of humour after some serious talk

There is a man in our neighbourhood who has arrived recently. Initially he tried to be very friendly with us and we found nothing wrong in it. But now I have made it a point not to entertain him any more. The reason is very annoying as well as ridiculous. During a conversation, while standing face to face, the man keeps advancing inch by inch towards the person he is talking to. God knows why. But really it is a very unacceptable and unpardonable habit. Initially, for two or three days, I kept on going back slowly to maintain the basic minimum distance between us. The more I retreat, the more he advances, without in any way interrupting the conversation. He literally breathes down upon the other person's face. Now the moment I see him, I just change my route and take a roundabout way to avoid him. How his family members tackle this problem I would really like to know. Such peculiar habits some people possess.
What if the other person is a woman?

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An all-pervasive feeling for the ultimate truth

Someone once asked Lord Buddha that from where do all these happenings of this world originate, where have we come from and what is our destination? Lord Buddha replied that we need not bother about all such questions. Now we only need to concentrate upon what is absolutely necessary. I know that you all are in great distress. You do not get what you want; what you get, you cannot cling or hold on to it; you fail to have a firm grip upon all your acquisitions; you cannot put your stamp of authority upon them; whatever you can save for yourself, you are not satisfied with that. These are creating endless sorrows in your minds. First try to solve these problems. Then only you will be able to move on to the bigger questions about life. He said that escape from sorrows and sufferings is our primary aim and asked us to join him in finding a way to total freedom from all such distressful conditions.

Here we must mention that freedom from sorrows and sufferings can never be the primary aim of life. That is definitely not in human nature. We can clearly see that in no way do we dislike sufferings and distress. Many a times we most willfully embrace certain sufferings and distress.

To survive and live, one does not need to climb at the top of Mount Everest or Alps. There was no need to set his foot there. But man has taken up all such troubles without any apparent reason. There are numerous examples like this.

The reason behind this is that man has a courageous and defying attitude towards sufferings and distress. He always tries to know it himself, and make it known to others that he can endure or put up with all sufferings, discomforts and distresses. He can confront suffering with boldness. The real cause behind this is that man wants to be great; he does not want comfort.

The great Greek ruler Alexander set out to conquer territories, leaving behind all the comforts and luxuries of the throne. What made him do that? A desire to bring other's territories under his control? Not really. He wanted to become great in some way, and thereby comprehend or grasp the true nature of his strength.

Man has never been able to save himself from this inherent desire.

One who wishes to amass wealth, and thereby attain greatness, it is useless to tell him how to get rid of his sorrows and sufferings. It is needless to tell him that he should give up all his desire for worldly enjoyment and comfort. Because he has already given up enjoyment and comfort in his quest for accumulation of wealth.

Thus the path that Lord Buddha has shown us to get rid of sorrows and sufferings is a very difficult one with numerous hindrances and obstructions. We can travel along that path only if we are willing to embrace suffering. By embracing suffering man becomes aware of his strength and his greatness. Wherever man can see there is an opportunity to become great, he rushes towards it.

Had this path led man to a place where there is no suffering or distress, then man would definitely have moved to a different path that only leads to suffering and distress. If we tell man that in order to get rid of suffering, you have to give up all comforts, he will ask for something greater than just plain relief from suffering. He is ready to give up all comforts, but against that he asks for something greater that just plain relief from suffering. What is that greater thing? It is man's ardent desire to be great! In wealthiness, in learning, or in fame, we are always sacrificing comfort and peace for greatness.

But this greatness is not so great a thing that acquisition of it can bring total comfort and fulfillment to our souls.

So if the one and only God can be placed in front of men as his ultimate aim, then we can satisfy his ultimate need to a great extent. Relief from suffering is not totally acceptable as the ultimate aim.

Many a people say that this attainment seems quite far-fetched. It requires renunciation, purification, devotion, celebration and all that. That which is our primary aim and objective, if that can be incorporated into our lives at the very beginning in some way or other, then all the material instruments like devotion, renunciation, ceremony, celebration, worship and purification does not turn out to be our ultimate aim.

So the realization of this ultimate truth 'to get united with God' should be incorporated in the early part of our lives. Then He alone will guide us all through our lives with utmost care. Then our journey of life will become joyous and smooth.

Learning grammar is for the sake of literature. One has to be careful that becoming an expert in grammar without ever entering into the realm of literature is not the aim.

Translation based on Bengali works of Rabindranath Tagore ("Bhuma" in Bengali)

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Graceful Subtlety

My viewers/readers are my honoured guests. Though I have posted this in Beautiful and Sublime, I thought I should also post it here for my TARRY A LITTLE's subscribers. This is a pencil drawing (2008), with a few digital touches.

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Two Trees

Two trees, standing on either side of the picture frame like twins. Painted - 2010. Click on the picture to view a larger and clearer image. Enjoy, share and give your valued opinion!

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Rabindranath Tagore - A few photographs

Rabindranath Tagore in Japan, 1916
















Rabindranath Tagore in Russia, 1930

















Rabindranath Tagore in Berlin, Germany , 1930

























Rabindranath Tagore in America, 1931
















Rabindranath Tagore in Tehran, 1937 (on his 77th birthday)
















































Rabindranath Tagore in a boat in W.Bengal, India, 1937
























Tagore at around 80. Never really stopped writing!!
























Rabindranath Tagore smiling!

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Baruch Spinoza - a name uttered with reverence

Whenever anything in nature seems to us ridiculous, absurd or evil, it is because we have a partial knowledge of things. We are ignorant of the order and coherence of nature as a whole, and because we want everything to be arranged according to the dictates of our own reason. What our reason pronounces bad and distasteful is not bad as regards the order and laws of universal nature, but only as regards the laws of our own nature, taken separately.

As for the terms 'good' and 'bad', they indicate nothing positive considered in themselves.....for the same thing can be at the same time good, bad and indifferent. Music is good to the melancholy, bad to mourners, and indifferent to the dead. Bad and good are prejudices, which the eternal reality cannot recognize.

Only knowledge is power and freedom; and the only permanent happiness is the pursuit of knowledge and the joy of understanding. ----- Baruch Spinoza

In the year 1640 he was just eight years old. After his death in 1677, at the age of 45, people considered, and still considers, him as a God-intoxicated man with invaluable philosophical thoughts, mighty enough to match the mountains and the sea. To build his statue in 1880-82 at Hague in Netherlands, contributions came from every corner of the world. Never did a monument rise upon so wide a pedestal of love. He still points, from his granite pedestal, out to all men the way of blessedness which he found.

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The Succulent Vitality

Our devotional religious endeavour has two sides - one deals with everything related to strength while the other deals with its succulent (juicy) vitality. The succulent vitality is the capacity to manifest the truth directly and instantaneously, which is full of life and vigour.

By strength we mean unquestionable faith arising out of moral and intellectual power. It is the firm belief that one possesses by virtue of his spiritual power, no matter what its extent is. It remains undisturbed under all circumstances.

This strength has got nothing to do with knowledge. It is not derived out of our belief about the existence of God. This faith or belief is a state of the mind. It is a sort of infallible dependency that cannot be thrown into confusion, that remains unperturbed under all circumstances. The mind always remains firmly grounded and it does not feel helpless in any situation. This faith is as firm as our universe. It is the safest haven for our minds. It has immense strength.

He who lacks this belief always finds himself in deep water, trying his best to survive by clinging on to whatever he can lay his hands upon. He fails to find solid ground under his feet. If he fails to have his grip on something, he drowns into deep sorrow. Then he finds no consolation anywhere. Hardship of life keeps on making him more and more frustrated. He fails to see the iron pillars of success. Fear and apprehension always keeps his mind disturbed. He tries to grab a floating, empty container to keep himself away from drowning. But one who has his both feet firmly grounded, though he needs empty containers to satisfy the needs of his day-to-day life, he does not need them to keep himself afloat, or save himself from drowning.

That is why one whose belief is firm and unquestionable, all his works bear a stamp of affirmation. He knows he has a firm ground to stand upon and a definite destination to reach. Even if he fails to see his destination clearly, even if he fails in his endeavour, in his mind he knows it very clearly that he has not been deprived altogether. His mind is ably equipped to foresee some success amidst failure. This immovable and undisturbed state of his mind is the eternal truth, which he can feel inside at every moment. He always enjoys a freedom from uncertainty and diffidence. This is that faith, that belief, upon which our whole religion is established.

There is a deep comprehension at the root of this firm belief, which is our utmost faith in God. Faith in God is a term, which is very easy to utter, and nobody ever confesses to believe anything contrary to it.

But unconsciously we deny his existence through our daily acts. We take up all responsibilities upon ourselves and try to accomplish everything on our own, leaving very little for the Almighty to take care of. We pray to Him for our well-being and yet we keep on worrying intensely about it. This way we keep on denying His existence. We seem to have more faith upon our own discretionary power than the grace of God.

The fact that God is holding all of us in the form of an eternal truth, sheltering us with utmost care is not the ultimate expression of the whole thing. This earth is built up with many a layers of stone. Had there been no such firmness, we would never have been able to glide upon its surface with such aplomb and ease. Upon all this firmness there is also a succulent (juicy) vitality, giving it a softness and tenderness which is so much inherent to it, and which adds zest and piquancy (a quality of enhancing enjoyment) to it. That is the ultimate form of our mother earth. It is soft, beautiful and kaleidoscopic.

Upon this eternal firmness of this earth, there is a constant playful movement, which has its own manifestation. This only gives this earth a complete form. Above the rock-solid foundation, there is a constant flow of life, flow of youth and flow of beauty. It is always expressing its beauty. There is no end to its youthful nature.

The juicy vitality is in a constant flow. It is capable of permeating into everything, thereby filling all that it permeates with delight. It is a constant manifestation of beauty, youthful vigour and nature. Where this juicy vitality dries up, the hard, lifeless inner core gets revealed.

All our devotional pursuit also requires this juicy vitality, without which it (our devotion) loses its complete form and worthiness. Our devotion then gets confined within a limit and its vision becomes one-sided and narrow. Such devotion always tries to bring down all others to its own way of thinking. This firm, obstinate nature of narrow devotion mistakes tenderness as weakness and variety as magical illusion.

The inner core is always hard. The outer appearance is always soft and tender. That gives our life the vitality it needs. The outer beauty is so essential for life to flourish.

Where our devotional pursuits flourish, there we find an incessant flow, a wide variety of feelings and manifestation of tenderness and politeness.

Politeness does not necessarily mean educative courtesy. Politeness emanating from or evolving out of educative courtesy is like the sharp edge of a sword. There is another kind of politeness, which is akin to the tender leaves of a plant, or to that which makes a flower bloom, or to the wind that caresses the branches of trees, or to the rain, which drizzles to a tune, or to the vibrating rays of the morning sun. It is that politeness which very easily establishes a link with everyone, which responds, which is agreeable, which transforms a faulty stroke into a tuneful one, and which, by virtue of/with the help of/in its own beauty, breaks down individuality, so that it can find its way into every heart. This politeness comes out of that juicy vitality, and not from that educative courtesy. This politeness is not burdened with dry restraint; it is filled up with juicy abundance. If it is at all burdened, then that is definitely with love, devotion and completeness.

The juicy vitality expresses itself in the form of joy. Joy can very easily give away all that it possesses. It always tries to distribute itself among everyone. If one remains unyielding, then it becomes very difficult for him to unify himself with others. This unyielding, proud nature can only be got rid of with the help of politeness.

This is where even the Almighty bows down to us. He is strong and firm, but even He cannot stay away from distributing all his joy and happiness among us. There He acts just like a loving parent, calling all his little children for embracement. On one hand He is eager to distribute all his joy and happiness among us and willing to hold all of us within Himself, while on the other hand He is controlling all that is happening in this universe with a firm grip.

His role as the loving parent is easily evident. This is expressed through His polite beauty, which is spread all around us. But His role as the controller is not so easy for everyone to comprehend. It took us a long time to understand His role as the controller of this universe.

A glacier is a frozen mass of ice. It is like that dry intellect, which is firm and brittle. But when a glacier melts, it starts flowing. Then it transforms into that juicy vitality. It takes everything in its stride. Every obstacle then lends it more variety and rhythm.

When strict discipline and stern practices make our religion dry, it gets subdivided. Walls and fences are built up to demarcate individual areas. Religion becomes weak. When this juicy vitality of religion pervades us, we get unified under one belief, one faith and one roof. Then we all flourish along with religion. We fail to get unified successfully when some need, some theological cause, some dry intellectual pursuit or some strict disciplinary practice lies at the root. Such things make us heartless, build up numerous obstacles, and give birth to religious pride, which in turn makes our mind and vision narrow. These are certainly not the ways to get united with God. Moreover, we also have to pick out and throw away the thorn of enjoyment, desire for which only weakens us.

Enjoyment is not the aim of love. Love should be such that it can embrace sorrow with joy. Through sorrow, good deeds and dedication we can make our love worthful. Acceptance of sorrow is the crown of love. No matter how hard a housewife works at home for the well-being of her family, it can never make her feel tired. Similarly, in case of a devotee, dictates of work can never turn out to be fetters for him. Those are his ornaments. Sorrow is his pride. His painstaking efforts never arouse any pain. He embraces sorrow; otherwise his devotion loses much of its essence. A devotee takes up every duty, which unfolds before him, with joy. Within sorrow and duty he finds his freedom.

One who has been motivated by this juicy vitality, for him there is no stoppage. During his journey of life, every obstacle lends him a different variety.

Without this juicy vitality, a person gets engulfed with all kinds of restraint. He then remains confined within a handful of daily duties, only to stay alive.

The main problem of man is not to find out a way by which he can get rid of all his sorrows and sufferings. It is not that he can conquer sorrow and banish it from his life with the help of some strength. The main problem of mankind is to find out a way with which he can embrace sorrow, to find that strength through which he can endure sorrow and still prosper internally. Those who talk about embracement of sorrow, they say that by relinquishing ego, prejudice and vanity, men can embrace sorrow. We can replace ego and vanity by love and devotion, if we want to conquer sorrow. All our problems get solved when we arouse the feeling of devotion within us. With a feeling of devotion all our work becomes a joy, and we feel glorious even among all kinds of sorrows.

Translation based on Bengali works of Rabindranath Tagore

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To be God-like

In the highest sense of spirituality, we can only say that may we keep on turning ourselves into someone like God. That can only be our constant endeavour. How far we will be able to proceed, that only time can tell. We do not know. But I can never say that I can get Him. How can I get someone within whom I am residing, of whom I am just a small part thereof? I can't bind Him and confine Him in my room. He is everywhere, in everything. The Divine Soul of God is in an already transformed, pure form. I have to keep on trying to transform my soul into that form, since nature wise we are alike.

A river can only keep on moving towards the ocean, so that some day it may become something like an ocean. But the river can never get the ocean within its course!

We also can only try to move towards Him, and be God-like some day. All other attempts to become someone else will turn futile. We surpass everything just like a river. A river surpasses all the hills and dales, valley and village to meet the ocean. But a river can't surpass the ocean. Similarly we cannot surpass God. In our endeavour, we will keep on breaking all barriers, giving up all pride, prejudice and vanity, and continue to move towards Him. That is our destiny.

Translation based on Bengali works of Rabindranath Tagore

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150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore

Also read: About Rabindranath Tagore (click on the picture to see a larger and clearer image)

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The Lonely Tree

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Click on the picture to view a larger and clearer image.

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