Punked!

Disclaimer: The following verbiage lacks any kind of structure and is purely a flow of ideas jotted down as they occurred to me. It might seem like a mixed bag of thoughts and that's exactly what it is. My thoughts and ideas are an ongoing stream of wonderful and infinite possibilities which are far from being contained. Any attempt to contain them is futile and I'm thankful for that!

While warm, sunny weather usually attracts people out of their houses, I at times, prefer cuddling up and reading. Not just any light fictional novel but books based on science or technology. Not just any science but radical and, preferably borderline controversial, science. One such book talks about how science needs a fresh outlook and that it's time we start borrowing concepts to lead us into discovering spirituality the "scientific" way. Sounds cool, doesn't it! Well it is, that is, for those who can relax and look at fresh new ideas with enthusiasm. For the others, who aren't yet ready to overlook scientific dogma, don't bother!

So, the other day as I was reading through this book, it struck me how similar we all are towards our approach of an established ideology. Be it science or religion, once we are convinced of a set of beliefs, its only a handful who would venture out of the ordinary to step into the unknown, to explore brilliant possibilities. It amazes me, how intelligent, reasonable men and women suddenly seem to lose their senses when it comes to religion. Not just their senses, what they lose is a prized possession, it's their inner voice. Even those who insist that they don't really care about religious rituals seem to give in to certain practices, purely because they aren't sure about what would happen if they shun those practices. Seriously! Do you really, honestly, expect to cause havoc in your lives, purely because you "messed" up some traditional practice! Geez!

I, personally, couldn't care less about religion, not my own, not others. What I do care about is appreciating all that I have (personally and globally), being a valuable resource to others and most of all, keeping myself happy, come what may! Yes, it's selfish and that's exactly my point! Being happy all the time has sort of gathered social disapproval. It seems inappropriate to do so. Especially being happy/calm/at peace when your near and dear ones are troubled is supposedly a sign of indifference or heartlessness. Many years back, I would have agreed with this view, but lately this idea doesn't resonate with me at all. I don't see how I can be of value to someone else when I myself have lost my balance. This doesn't mean I promote belittling others' concerns, worries or disappointments. Far from it. Being happy doesn't always mean grinning from ear to ear and frolicking around. Just being at peace and absolutely enjoying your current action, whatever that may be, can be a source of immense joy. Some people refer to this as their meditation and that is exactly what it is! Such chronic peace brings a kind of strength and stability that can be a source of wonderful inspiration to others in hard times (for them. B'coz once you have learnt to pave your way towards happiness, you pretty much set sailing through life at top speed :D) I've been on either sides of the equation, so I know!

So if it's all so easy and simple, why are we over complicating things? Well, for one, we love the drama of it. Face it, we are all one big global Bollywood family! We don't feel completely satisfied until we've "overcome" failures, faced "challenges" and dealt with "difficulties". Sometimes we get so into the character that we kind of forget the whole purpose of our being here. That's when it's a good idea to take a break, step back and view our lives from a distant perspective, quite literally, imagine looking down upon your lives from outer space. It appears oh, so small, minuscule and at times, silly! Yup, the higher perspective game helps me snap out of everyday drama and look at the bigger picture. And once you are there, the right words and right actions just come to you at the very right time.

So as I took you through my flow of ideas, what do you think was my point? Surprise, surprise! None, whatsoever. It was all for the joy of it, for the fun of it and purely for the exhilaration I felt when I wrote all of it down.'Wait, what!', you'd say. Read this again and you might just begin to see that statement applying to the bigger picture here. Have you got the cosmic joke yet?. It's not about the destination, it's all about the journey.

To Love....With Love

Today, my love, I've known one thing

That come what may,
I'm here to stay
Your hurt, your pain
I'm here to take away

Some moments of low
and then some highs
be it whatever
my love never dies
With each rising sun
and every passing day
Wishing you blessings
To God I do pray

There's so much I want to
give you and then some more
My heart bleeds pure love
in abundance, that I can't store
Will hold you in sickness,
In health, will walk astride.
Close your eyes when you need me,
You will find me by your side.

Engineering Spirituality

It's astonishing how my technical side ties into my spiritual side. It's always been there, waiting for me to take notice of it. I took this long to figure it out, well at least begin the journey of figuring it out. I'm talking about my job of being an electrical engineer opening up a spiritual doorway which I had overlooked for so long. Absurd, right? Not anymore!

The most fundamental principal of electrical engineering is taught to us, all of us, right from school, in physics. It's the law of the materials regarding flow of electricity. That every material has some electrical resistance of its own, depending on it's individual characteristics, is a well known fact. Depending on whether the resistance is large or small determines whether the flow of current would be less or more. In other words, higher the resistance, less will the current flow and vice versa. Now what has this basic principle got to do with spirituality. If a correctly drawn analogy is applied here, this principle has every thing to do with the basic laws of spirituality as well. It is so clear and obvious that I am pretty sure almost every engineer (or non-engineer) misses this basic point. I'll say it again, higher the "resistance", lower is the flow of current or energy. Does that strike a chord yet? Think about it, what could this simple statement be pointing to with reference to our human existence. What's the conductor, what's the energy and what's the "resistance"? It took me 8 years to figure out that the very first thing I learnt about electrical engineering is the most fundamental sutra of life. We all must have experienced this throughout our lives and we still continue doing it. Doing what? Offering "resistance" to the very life force that is so eager to flow through us. All it needs is a "go" from us. And how do you think we resist this energy, by our thoughts, our staunch beliefs, our "logic", everything that stops us from having faith in the Creation. Everything that questions our ability to just fling ourselves free and into Life with the complete and utter faith that we are loved by It. I got this feeling when I experienced sky diving. The thrills and rush are only a form of Life force flowing through me abundantly. I was surrendering myself to gravity, to nature, both literally and figuratively.

What do I get by "conducting" do you ask? Well, what do you think? Isn't that something for you to experience and find out? Words are only a tool to express distinct forms of thoughts....What does one do when the Thought is Life itself and is so magnificently All-Encompassing that the words fail to express this magnificence.