FAITH

New born child cries as soon it is born
Afraid of the wordly scorn.
It chuckles when it sees the mother
As it knows there is no need to bother.
No more do they share umbilical cord
But they feel bound by a magical word.

Man concedes all to his wife
Even at the cost of his own life
Reason behind this is what I strive
to unravel while I'm still alive.
Logic needs to scutter
While I stand to Utter.

Mountains and moors have no remorse
for the difference in their course.
I stand and wonder at their peaceful gaiety
and try to fathom who's their deity?
All I gather from my wonder
is its the same which works from under.

Farmers sow their seeds on the earth
Hoping to fill in all their dearth.
I wonder at their decision to sow
as I fail to comprehend what they know.
Once I got it, I'm ever so astonished
that all my fears are forever perished

I now stand to face thine
To accept the decree of divine.
I shout for all to hear
that Faith will remove all our fear.
As I realised the power of faith
My mind became free of myth.

The child was bound by faith and love
Man and wife lived with trust filled trove
Mountains and moors had faith in Lord
as the Farmers who trusted in god
Faith and love, trust and belief
Will always give you lot of relief.


THIRUMAL RAO R

Ignorance

Ambrosial meals, elysian nights,
With calisthenic thoughts and euphoria all around.
My life went by without any brights
like An idle mind on a hazy ground.

Time had passed by, right under my nose
in presence of my ignorance through the course.
Seems like aeons since i had a cerebration,
And I long for it with adjuration.

Genesis of thought is still unknown
Fuelling the desire to make it known.
The glittering stars foster hope in my mind,
that a dawn will herald light on human mind.

Abhorring hedonism was merely not a dauntless act,
preached my mind when I had to face the fact.
Garbled thoughts garnered in mind,
never left me free even to unwind.

Failure to find an intention to my fate
Found respite in the haven of altruistic slate.
While Creeping on the beach smoothing a sandstone,
Dawn came upon and my ego brightly shone.

Thirumal Rao R

Agony and Human Mind

‘Mera jeevan, kora kaagaz kora hi rahe gaya…..’ Very captivating? Enchanting? Of course. But what makes it golden song even decades after it was composed. Music? I do agree the music was fantastic, but was it just the score of music which has enthralled millions for decades? What does it have that makes millions to relate them with the song?
Isn’t it the agony the lyrics depict which binds us?
Merry making and gaiety seem to attract us, but it is very short lived. Shakespeare’s tragedy is still more famous than his comical plays. Isn’t it ironical that man has always wanted success, wanted to be happy, but has glorified sorrow, sacrifice, agony. If we observe, a soothing music depicting an ironical life with a pinch of sorrow will always capture our attention regardless of taste for music.
But the question is, why does man relate well to agony than gaiety, despite the fact that every endeavor undertaken by man is to make himself happy?

History is evident that agony and grief has churned great minds. Tagore became impregnable with the number of bereavements he faced in his life. Madam Curie became addicted to her work when she lost her parents and sister in a small period of time. Einstein too has confessed to have been a victim of insecurity, not belonging to any country or state. His famous statement “I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss, and by makeup a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to any state or national entity whatsoever.” reinforces his opinion and the mindset.

Having made the above observation, let us try to objectively dissect the meaning of agony and its root cause.
Dictionary says agony is a state of acute pain. But what is pain? It can be described as a somatic sensation of acute discomfort. It is a human tendency to constantly make himself comfortable. Comfort level increases with every new invention/discovery of man which aides in reducing his effort and achieving his motive. But human mind is irrational, comfort is a very subjective word defined by every individual according to his/her culture of mind.

Ideally speaking, every man is supposed to have a goal in his life so that his energy and effort is channelised towards a constructive and a noble cause aimed at the upliftment of mankind. But it is possible to achieve such a goal when his/her personal interests are in coherence with the noble cause. Friction between interests will just lead to unwanted energy loss. So it is important to formulate a goal for our life which is noble at the same time is in sync with our interests and bent of mind. Any successful man’s life can be traced back to a date when he would have his goal visualized with utmost clarity.
Now the goal is set, in other words the destination is known. So, the journey starts now. Even a 1000 mile journey starts with a single step.
But like the human body, human mind also tends towards complacency unless there is a constant motive power to push it forward. Though a clear goal acts as an engine, a tinge of discomfort will add as a fuel. Lamp emits light only when a wick tolerates the discomfort of heat. It is a universal fact that extended periods of relaxation or very low disturbances leads to stiffness in both physical and mental domains. And we also know that universe is dynamic and it is a characteristic property of the universe. Since we are an integral part of the same universe, it should be our characteristic property as well. Hence, by nature man should be dynamic, if he needs to be in harmony with nature. Normally what discomfort does is, it tends to disturb the complacent mind and gets it ticking. It alerts the mind and constantly reminds us of our destination. It will help us concentrate more and put more efforts in the right direction. The only requirement from our side is to keep our eyes wide open. Ironically, majority of us will shut our eyes and wait for miracles. This is the reason why we had only one Einstein, one Tagore , one Subhash Chandra Bose, One Gandhi, and one Madam Curie, inspite of millions of people who had the potential and also faced similar situations as they did. These great souls had just one thing in common. They believed that ‘The only real prison is fear and the only real freedom is freedom from fear’.

Agony is in fact the wick which burns itself and lights the dark. It is an opportunity to testify individual’s endurance and stretch beyond what we had previously thought possible. Agony is the fuel which burns to push the vehicle of thought in the direction of our goal. Discomfort is a state of mind which we have developed over ages due to the incessant feeding to our brain on what we consider as comfort. Pain will never go in vain. It will always help us gain! Now, what we have gained is for us to introspect.
So, people who value their journey more than their destination relates more to agony
as that is the state of mind they would be for most of their life.
Agony becomes more lovable to those who experience exhilaration instead of exhaustion.
“Man is an animal like other animals, wants food and success and women, not truth. Only if the mind Tortured by some interior tension has despaired of happiness: then it hates its life-cage and seeks further, and finds, if it is powerful enough. But instantly the private agony that made the search muddles the finding. Then search for truth is foredoomed and frustrate? Only stained fragments? Until the mind has turned its love from itself and man, from parts to the whole.”
– Robinson Jeffer


Thirumal Rao R

Love as a Motive Power

"Love is not a thing to understand.
Love is not a thing to feel.
Love is not a thing to give and receive.
Love is a thing only to become
And eternally be. " - Sri Chinmoy

Love, an emotion which causes an upsurge in energy levels, an emotion which gives surreal strength, an emotion which defeats and defies intelligence, an emotion which symbolizes immortality, an emotion which incapacitates us to define. A mysterious force which powers us and bestows enough strength to take on the world single handedly. It can be safely assumed that “Love” is one of the most frequently used word in the history of literature.

Let us try to understand love by putting it on the canvas called life and savour its beauty with changing background colours called situations.

Manifestations of love are various and occurs in myriad forms. But the most predominant and the most celebrated form is the love between the valour and vanity, bounty and beauty, physical might and inner strength, masculine and feminine.

The love between a man and a woman sustains only if it is beyond carnal attraction. This love is yet another unsolved mystery posed by the providence for the mankind to comprehend. Love is such a powerful feeling that it paralyses the brain and defies all logic.

The phrase ‘Love is blind’ seems to be true in every sense of it. But the main haunting question is what is love? Is it a feeling or is it an invisible external mysterious force acting on mankind ? A very tough question indeed. Feeling and thinking have a very thin line drawn in the realm of human consciousness. But they both belong to two completely different domains. It is like a cat and a dog living together. It is not impossible for a cat and a dog to live in harmony, but feeling and thinking doesn’t live harmoniously. Each tries to enter the other domain and try to influence the thought process. Man is famous in interchanging these two in the wrong circumstances. We normally tend to think when we are required to feel and we normally succumb to emotions when we have to think and act. Thoughts should precede action at the human level. It is only in the primitive reptilian level that action precedes thought. But we tend to experience that kind of process happening amongst us as well.

Love is infact a metaphysical subject which yields no result regardless f the length and depth of discussion. No one has been able to churn a universal definition. So, I feel it is something which can assume any form. It can be our purpose in life, it can be our way of life, it can be a characteristic feature of us, it can serve as an inspiration to live, it can be the motive power which drives our life. Love is all about an unknown hidden entity which acts as a medium carrying gaiety. It makes us feel delirious, renews and rejuvenates our body and mind.

Now, let us try to unravel love as to how it can act as an motive power. Imagine you had a tiring and a long day at work, you come home and it happens to be your wedding anniversary. Don’t you stretch yourself and try to make your spouse happy. Would you be equally energetic on an otherwise normal day? What drove you on that day?

How many disagree to the statement that young lovers are the most adventurous and full of energy trying to prove their love by attempting the extremes? What drives them to do so? People risk their life for their beloved. What gives them such courage? Is it not love that is behind all these. Is it not the motive power which motivates the man to transform from existentiality to living life. Love is the most powerful source of energy known to man. The only point is it can be harnessed at our will and not otherwise.

Any attempt to dissect love to find its nature will be like searching a lost ring under the light which was lost elsewhere in dark. Practical and materialistic thinking will never succeed in understanding love and philosophical thinking will never succeed in defining love. It is one such wonderful entity in this creation which we can experience only if we stop thinking.

Experience love to feel and express the feeling of love. Love to love and hate to Hate!!!

Thirumal Rao R

Light in the Dark

In the stillness of the dark
Were those stars with a spark.
Amidst gush of the wind and fluttering of the trees
Laid back, I dreamt the world filled with peace.

Stars in their bright shine,
Ended my groping whine.
With pleasure did I dine
With a bottle of shining wine.

The brightness of the star in the darkness of the night
Epitomised the valour of a knight.
The grey screen of the cloud
Covered the star as a shroud.

As time passed away, the clouds flew away
They shone as before ever so bright
Reinforcing in me that I was right.
Cloud was temporary as problems in our life
Shine is the truth realized after life full of strife

Be a star and shine forever
Unperturbed by the cloud that hover.
Bright or not, never give a thought
Light in the dark is a drop in the drought.


Thirumal Rao R

Intellectual Intellect

Gyan was a Professor of Philosophy in Vidya Arts College in a small town. Prof.Gyan was known for his policy of simple living and high thinking. The barely occupied classroom was always jam packed for his class. He had an unusual and an eerie talent which attracted people. He always encouraged inquisitiveness and even tried to instill that among his students. Amongst his hundreds of students, Narayana was his favorite. His humility, simplicity, inquisitiveness, eagerness to learn, unconventional thinking had attracted Gyan as much narayana was attracted to Gyan. Naani was the nick name given to Narayana by his professor.
As it always was, even this lecture was very interesting, rather more than others as the topic was also as attractive as gyan’s lecture.
The topic to be discussed was Evolution of Man in the realm of intelligence. As was his ritualistic practice, Prof. started of with an analogy. He said man’s mind as it is today is not his own. It was a product of the improvement process happening from millions of years. Man’s thinking improved with the various kind of obstacles he overcame. The brain started evolving from then, taking only the best of what he learnt from his experience. For example, we need not learn how to light a fire or reinvent wheel as it is already done long back and is carried forward till us and will go on further.
Gyan just paused in between and out came his obvious phrase, “Any doubts friends?”
Naani alias Narayana religiously raised his hand waiting for prof’s permission. He started after professor prompted him by his hand gesture telling him to go on.

Naani in his ethnic simplicity asked: What is mind?

Prof.Gyan: Mind is an abstract center of consciousness.

Naani: Sir, Why do men think?

Prof.Gyan: Men tend to think that they think because they think that ability to think will make them superior and they like to think that their thinking has made them superior.

Naani: Sir, please do not confuse me. Anyway I’ll put it in other way, why does intellectuals attract more awe and reverence than others?

Prof.Gyan: Intellect has been the most mysterious subject from time immemorial. Mind is considered a storehouse of thoughts and ideas whose implications have the power to change the way the world functions. Intellect is a non-separable part of the process of this type of high thinking. Since intellect was attributed to all the major breakthroughs in the understanding of the nature by man and since it cannot be measured in any means nor experience it with any of our senses, it attracted one and all.

Naani: Sir, what happens to mind over time?

Prof.Gyan: Fantastic question my son! You are an intellectual in the making. You are an illustration of the intellectual in everyone whose mind is uninfluenced by the brutal reality of the society dominated by lesser mortals. Time is a concept which is an outcome of the mind’s process of thoughts. So how do you think time can affect its creator?

Naani: But sir, universe is a reality and it cannot be a subject of debate. So, man talks of even the age of universe. As I understand, age is a measure of time with reference to a certain point of physical occurrence at some moment. I also know that nobody has ever defined the boundaries of universe. The closest I can relate to the boundaries of universe is to the boundaries of our thoughts. So when we are allowed to dare proclaim the age of universe without even knowing the extent of its envelope, why shouldn’t we try to determine the age of mind? Why doesn’t mind age with time?

Prof.Gyan: I appreciate your logical thinking which I had always anticipated from you. But let us consider it this way. Universe is again a concept of our mind because we believe that space beyond our sight and knowledge exist. I also agree we have sufficient scientific reason to believe. But still our belief is based on some deductions which we have done considering some of the scientific revelations so far. But it is again based on the assumption that future is an extension of the past. In other words, we are assuming that whatever process we have found out by digging into the causations of certain events in nature is constant and will replicate wherever it occurs under similar conditions. How do you say that this assumption is valid? It is just sitting on the loose soil of belief which gives us a feeling of success for we try to pat our own backs under the delusion of accomplishment.

Naani: Why do we want to achieve anything if it is for the sake of recognition? I mean, isn’t it wrong to do something which we do it just to get a reason to boast around and get a pat on our back by the ignoramus surrounding us?

Prof.Gyan: Man has evolved over time from still primitive living beings. He didn’t evolve as a unit of isolated creature. He has somehow deduced that maximum comfort lies in community living and maximum pleasure lies in dominating the same community.
To give you an analogy, man doesn’t like to see his relative reach great heights. It triggers malice in him. But the fun lies in the fact that he doesn’t mind if a third person who doesn’t belong to his close circle of relatives or friends does it. It’s a mundane way of thinking which has taken root in man’s mind for a long time. Here the point is what is the difference between your relative being your boss or someone you don’t know. It just illustrates the evolution of social thinking which has grown roots in man’s brains. I still do not know the origin of such a dismal idea or thought. Recognition in his community has been the core of anyone’s and everyone’s ambition list.

Naani: Sir, you didn’t tell me about the age of mind….

Prof.Gyan: Sorry! I got deviated from the subject. See, the mind I consider is a processor of thoughts and ideas which gets stored in our brain once it gets a form. So mind and brain are the same things in different dimensions. Brain is an organ which is responsible for memory and storage of data in the physical dimension. Mind is an organ which is responsible for creating thoughts utilizing the raw data present in brain in an intellectual dimension. Every physical entity has a trajectory starting from birth (origin) to death.
But since mind does not belong to physical dimension, it is not affected by time.
Take an analogy; remember your first day at college. There might have occured some events which you would cherish at every revocation of that thought. Would that change as you grow physically old? Or will the age of a poet impede in creating his childhood in form of beautiful verses? I strongly contend that mind can never become old nor can ever be measured for its capacity.

Naani nodded and sat down, saying thanks with gratitude and humility. But Gyan could sense that naani’s mind was still occupied with something else. The class had come to an end. Gyan could not complete the curricula he had mentioned as agenda for that hour. But everyone felt enlightened and left the class with enhanced respect for Prof. Gyan. Naani bowed to his professor in the latter’s staffroom and said “Sir, you cleared my dilemma. My only dream for which I promise to toil from this moment is to become your colleague. I am ready to give the rest of my life if you are by my side!”
Prof. Gyan was taken aback by such an unprecedented reaction by this young lad. He was at loss of words for the first time in his life. He just hugged the lad and Naani understood more than what his professor wanted to convey.

A point in Life

A moment in space-time: ‘Tens of children are born, hundreds die, many saplings shoot out of earth in hope, millions are crying, millions are celebrating, people are overeating, millions are dying of hunger. This is a generic view of events happening on earth at any moment of time.’
In a chemical reaction, if there is more than 1 output for the same input, we tend to relate the outputs and study their nature in order to understand the process in whole.
Similarly, under the same catalyst called time, input called life churns out so many by products that it is almost impossible to even recognize the main product arising from the input.
If a life sprouts at the same moment as the death, isn’t that akin to a process where the sproutal of life is somehow related to the demise of life as both happens at the same moment. If happiness envelopes a few at the same moment when shroud covers others, isn’t it strange of us if we do not try to relate them. If at all we try to connect the grief of some with the gaiety of others, then doesn’t the process of gaiety and sorrow, life and death become a cycle and the path of life from birth to death becomes more a part of vicious circle made of many such paths of life and death.

A circle is nothing but a set of continuous points who all manage to stay away from a distant point with the same distance. A point is nothing but a circle made of points whose distance from a distant point is null. Spherical surface is nothing but circles made of similar points in 3 physical dimensions, wherein points of the circle in other 2 dimensions also manage to maintain the distance like those points in the circles of the remaining dimensions.

So if we consider universe is spherical, birth and death is a part of a cycle. Also, if we consider that we living beings are a part of the same cycle called life. Then it is interesting to observe some strange and interesting revelation.
We can assume that each of us as a singular point in the circle of life. We all stay away from some distant point with the same distance. It is because we all are circling around ourselves with the point of focus being ego and the distance being null. That is the reason why we remain as points (circle with zero radii). Now we being points of a large circle, all of us stay away from that distant point called absolute truth. All of us are equally scared of it. If we could make the distance null between that distant point and us, then the circle called life will merge into a point absolute which is other wise known as salvation.

But, we all have come to a state wherein we believe a circle is the only complete figure. It is a symbol of integrity. We believe in traversing the same path as others. We believe in certainty in life. Uncertainty is something our mindset cannot accept for a long time. Life cannot be uncertain to a large extent. We cannot lead life like that. That is the reason man cannot live like an animal. Man cannot live life according to his free will. He is bound by his own chains called society wherein certainty is the most aspired and its achievement the most celebrated. Most of the time in man’s life is wasted in thinking of his tomorrows and the rest in sulking about yesterdays. It is not the mistake of any individual, but of the society who reminds him of every wrongdoing of yesterdays at the slightest available chance.

Circle is not complete. It is not the perfect figure or geometrical shape, as predominantly considered. It is because circle is still definable in terms of its distance from the singular point. It means circle is finite and measurable. Absolute is neither measurable nor finite and we consider that absolute as the ultimate truth and an end to the cyclical process of birth and death. Each living being is a part of such a circle. If he is to reach the end, then the distance to the ultimate truth should decrease gradually till it unites with the point and becomes one. Such a singularity is last event in the cycle of birth and death as far as an individual is concerned. A point is the only finite representation as a physical manifestation of the divine absolute what we call as singularity. It is a deep abyss of mystery and meaning. Point has no dimension; it cannot be defined in space physically. Neither can a point be bound by time. It is completely independent of everything known to man but for the cognizance of its existence.

Surrender of the self on the terms of the self will destroy ego and the bloom of humility will sow a seed of truth whose radiance manifests in the form of effulgence visible in the face of the noble.