RK Narayan

R.K.Narayan, inspite of his wide acclaim, might be a little known author in the western layperson world, or even an author that those who grew up in the Harry Potter era don't know/care much about. But he is one of my favorite authors. He is ample proof that to be able to write fiction or non-fiction, all you need is being able to connect with yourself first. His extra-ordinary skill is to write about ordinary things in simple, unpretentious style that you and I can identify with. His chief characters all have the same insecurities, fears as any of us. What I learned from his books is that, words and actions of most of us is not about good/evil, right/wrong - its merely that we don't know of anything better given our situation. Its ok to make mistakes, as long as we make new ones each time.

When R.K.Narayan passed away in 2001, at age 94, it felt like I'd lost someone I'd known personally for a while. You know its a good writer if he could make you feel that. Its hard to pick a favorite book, but 'English Teacher' lingered in my memory longer than the others.

Religion - about God or Power?

(The following post is not about people that are religious and who hold high righteous religious principles. Its about the institution of religion and its present manifestation as a powerhouse of politics and corruption.)

In this day and age, its become important not to let religion come in the way of your spirituality - because religion is about Power, not God. If love is the basis of every religion and God is the epitome of everything thats pure and good, why is every war being fought today, rooted in religious fanaticism?

Origin of religion?
Maybe what must have started as a coming together of people with common goals and noble intentions has somehow, over a few hundred years, metamorphosized into frenzied, fanatical communities that more resemble cults.

1.Exclusivity:
When a religion says that they alone have the exclusive path to the Omnipresent, I have a problem with being able to follow that religion. If by avoiding certain rituals, I have reserved my place in hell, that doesn't sound like a merciful God to me.

2.Telling People What to Do
I believe that we, as human beings, are born with the free will to do what we want, be with who we want and lead a life style of our preference. When religion goes beyond offering suggestions, thats a warning sign for me to back off.

3.Money
Power and money complement each other. Where there is money and power, purity is lost. So, even if they are donations, when there is a lot of money brought into a religious institution, corruption and politics are very likely to follow. Money, power, corruption and politics - most likely partners in crime.

4.Prejudice
I'm not against people that are religious. I like someone who stands by what they believe in. What I'm against is people that are religious looking down upon atheists and followers of alternate faith, and ,athiests treating religious people with disdain.

5.Insecurity
Why do people like to convert non-followers into their religion? The age-old human tendency to believe that there is security in numbers. There are some religions that multiply organically. Some others believe their aim in life is to bring civilization to people that have no food and trade food with religion to increase their following.

I believe that being a human (or a human being) is far too important that being a follower of my religion or being a citizen of a country, or having excessive tendencies of language or region nativity. A sense of belonging is a good feeling to have, but that cannot define who we are.

If the heart be followed in our actions and if love is our prime emotion and if we treat ourselves and others with compassion and empathy, do we really 'need' a religion to tell us what to do? Isn't it important to feel the God inside us than to look for the "godmen" outside us?

Why I like Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle is easily one of the most influential teachers of our time. The concept of 'Now' has been around for millions of years. Zen Buddhism and Hinduism have had roots in focussing on the present, but it took an Eckhart Tolle to make the concept of the 'Now' an accessible and easily understood idea. After my thinking was revolutionized by his words such as, (paraphrasing),"Now is all you will ever have. The past was a Now at one point, the future will be a 'now' going forward, but life is always in the now" and that 'A Happy life is just a series of happy moments'. The book, 'Stillness Speaks' moved me in a way very difficult to articulate. Other good reads are 'Practicing the Power of Now' and 'A New Earth'. I think any teaching is only as good as how comprehensible the teacher is. In that respect, kudos to Eckhart Tolle for delivering the spiritual material of the century.

Of late

I've been writing a lot online - maybe not a lot, but it seems like a lot because I do it only over the weekend. I've been having a busy month at work. It seems like a lot is happening, but I like it. I don't want to postpone my writing projects to next month when the workload will be lesser at the office, because the momentum will be gone, if I take a sabbatical even before I've taken off. I'm starting to explore different websites to do it. Its not as easy as it seems to be. Writing a good article requires a decent amount of research and its important for the article to still seem different and offer something unique to the reader. Writing is fun and if nothing else, very therapeutic. Without sounding like the LG commercial, I want to say, Life's Good.

Randy Pausch

Sometime last year, after seeing what the euphoria about the 'Last lecture' was all about in the news, I went to youtube to listen to this man talk. Years of learning from books can only give a person so much knowledge, depending on how much you choose to cram in the brain. Most professors talk - they impart knowledge, some great teachers talk - they exude wisdom. What can be gleaned from the unspoken words, is probably what stays with us through the lifetime. Randy Pausch is one such person. His speech of his childhood dreams was very engaging. What moved me was his attitude - his positive exuberance, his genuine sense of humor and his overwhelming love for his family. So I asked myself, with all my background of 'you-create-your-disease' new agey paradigms - why is this man - with outwardly impeccable personality, life loving, passionate about work, home and family - why is this man terminally ill and is now no more. He was 47 when he died. I don't claim to know every answer, and I most certainly don't know this one.

I think his message and his inspirational speech has reached far and wide, not only because they deserve every iota of attention, but because he was about to die also. I do not mean to sully the image of his message, by suggesting his credit has a little bit of pity attached to it, but merely that - the silver lining of his death is that his life message has reached thousands more, including me, who would have had little to no chance of listening to a carnegie mellon professor of computer science talk about his love for virtual reality and imagineering.

But I'm glad I did know Randy for 75 minutes. Randy - a little bit of 'you' has stuck with your listeners/students and you still live on through the lives you've touched.

What is success?

I have wondered for a long time what success means. Is it material wealth, mental well being, physical health coming together in one person? Or is it contentment? Or is it happiness? If its contentment, is an ambitious person unsuccessful? Is it having lot of friends or is it having a few friends that mean a lot? Is a renounced saint more successful than a materialistic person? Or is a crazy person on the street without a care or concern about the next meal happier than any of us, because he has nothing to lose? Since this is such a subjective question and our lives keep changing every day sometimes even by the minute, even if success were defined, it would be hard to evaluate one's life until after a person has passed. At which point, even if we've been assigned the crown of a successful person, we are not alive to enjoy the accolades. Who cares? (Or do we need to care? Well, life after death will have to be a topic for another day's blog.)

Since there are almost always more questions than answers, like most of life's questions, the answer is different for each of us. In my opinion, all we need to be concerned is whether we are living by what we think is important to us. I feel like I'm successful this moment if I can fully live in that moment, fill that moment to its potential, lose myself in the process and just treat every moment like its the last.

New Year, New Beginning, Clean Slate

I thought I'd be the last person to make New Year resolutions - I'm very bad at keeping resolves I'd already made, new year or not. Even though the first post is on New Year's day and its a new beginning at expressing myself through the written (or typed) word, I'm hoping (not necessarily resolving) this venture could be kept alive and well, sustained and nourished. With my already busy home and work life, why do I want to take up another venture? Well, I guess I've reached a point where I felt this need to provide a vent to my thoughts and this seems like the most natural thing to do at this point. And I couldn't let my 'making a living' come in the way of living my life. Here's my attempt to start something new, hopefully non-jinxed by the Jan 1 beginning.