sunshine

It's been a year . 

on this same date, I opened myself to a whole new world .......of life and blogging.

I had to write something about this journey of one year,online and offline,to celebrate its anniversary .I couldnt come up with a better way than dedicating the past year to the people I met,online and offline,to the books I read ,(Tao of Physics,Delirious Delhi,Memoirs of a Geisha ),to the new movies/series that I watched and the old ones that I rewatched,to the experiences I had,to being open to change,to the new feelings I felt and the old feelings that I refelt,to love,to discovering stuff,to doing new things,to learning new stuff.

"I fell into a sound sleep and dreamed that I was at a banquet back in Gion ,talking with an elderly man who was explaining to me that his wife,whom he cared dearly for,wasnt really dead,after all because the pleasure of the time they spend together lived on inside him. While he spoke I drank from a bowl of the most extraordinary bowl  of soup I'd ever tasted;every briny sip was a kind of ecstasy.I felt as though all the people I had come to known who had died or left me had not gone.They continued to live on inside me,just as the man's wife lived on inside him.I felt as though I was drinking them all in ...."    - from Memoirs of Geisha

Before my online world,blogging ,my real world was in a disarray.And now I cannot wait to get back to having lunch in a warm cosy bed,taking in the aroma of the food and the sound of the music or talking with my family or calling my real life college buddy.

"Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as waters."  -from The Tao of Physics

Virtual friends,life is just a reflection of real life,never confuse the two.

so, go make that call to your childhood friend that you've been thinking of or have a leisurely stroll with the nature or plan a family sunday brunch on your house garden.Do whatever you need to do ,but dont spend more time than necessary in things that are only virtual.

Also,be Open to Change :

try out different genres of movies,books; Be open to different viewpoints.Talk to people.Make that small talk or a "hello" to a stranger you come across while waiting in the queue or while gyming.  Make mistakes.Take risks.Be willing to let go of your past and embrace the present.

Life is in constant breathing motion,it is changing all the time.Our world is no more permanent than a wave rising on the ocean.Nothing lasts permanently.

.........somewhere ,sometime you will find sunshine.

Trapped

Why do we keep making the same mistakes again?We’d  know of at least one person who gets angry over food,very particular abt it but wouldn’t mind drinking alcohol.People like similar type of music and movies.A girl who loves chick flicks ,wouldn’t usually wanna watch a science fiction. 

Architects are these days designing buildings and stations ,so that ppl can be as easily evacuated as possible ,based on computer data on  how and where ppl will run,on average  during an emergency. So are we more predictable than expected?U decide.

Why is it that most of us would want to put things off to tomorrow related to studies or work?But would reply to a sms instantly?or why would introverts happily turn the other way when running into an acquaintance or a nosy chacha ji or aunty ji in a wedding?

Have you ever wondered if thoughts follow a pattern.Lets call it ‘thouttern’(Don’t google the term,u would never find it :P).Psychologists believe that 98.7% of our daily thoughts are repeats in one form or the other.

So,if we do have a thouttern,then we should be thinking the same thoughts in similar situations and these thoughts get so repetitive that we hardly are conscious of them the next time we are in the same situation.

For instance,some of us would always be comfortable in any social situation.We speak as if we are on some guard or we are ought to say things in a certain way.And we fumble ,making a complete mess of ourselves.We eventually think we are dumbos,incompetent to even expresss simple things.But,in reality,our negative thoughts kick in during a social situation .Whatever we say is subconsciously centred on “to speak in a certain proper way “.Over time ,how we perceive a social situation becomes very different from others.So,in a way we really are dumbos to ignore what actually could be happening :P

So,would it be right to say that we fall into some sort of trap of thouttern happening at a subconscious level ,allowing us to see only our version of reality,preventing us from seeing other viewpoints and immense opportunites in life.In case you are wondering something is just  not going right  in yr life ,be it in relationships,finances,health,work….think abt this.

Here are common words and phrases.Lets see the other side detached from their stereotypical meanings.

• Painter or an applied pigment chemist?
• Life or a whim of several billion cells that happen to be ‘you’
• Do or die .Nah that’s old school …Do before Die.that’s better
• If you cant learn to do well ,practice it till it becomes perfect  or if you cant learn to do it well,enjoy doing it badly
• Never put off things till tomorrow what can be done today or Never do those things what can be avoided altogether:P
• Contemplating or intellectual masturbation?
• Don’t have any regrets and hard feelings or If you can’t get rid of the ‘skeletons’ in yr closet ,better teach them to dance:P
• Be kind and speak politely to elders or Speak to them in their ‘language’ so that more than their mind,their heart understands(can be used to one’s advantage:P)
• A life that just happened or 86,400 seconds gifted
• There are exceptions to every rule.or There are exceptions to every rule.Even this one:P
• Ppl say love is a feeling that comes from him or her and we feel loved or the feeling was always there ,only invoked by the other person?

So,would you ,the readers,like to continue the list?

u can always email me if u are not on Google +

nateshsbhdr3@gmail.com

:D

Genesis of religion

What's the thing with mythology?Whatever it is ,there seems to be a certain kind of fascination with it.Whether it is Sea churning (samudra mathan)by the Gods or luminously appearing in front of the 'sadhu' immersed in meditation and granting them boon;however unrealistic ,people just dont seem stop liking it.Incidentally,person who plays Lord Shiva in hit TV series Devo Ke Dev Mahadev,has won awards and has a nationwide(even age wide from 18-80 year old ladies :p)fan-following.
Out of many instances in that TV series(some funny),two such come to my mind now.First,when Lord Vishnu sleeps for one night with wife of tyrant Jalandhar to disempower him to wreak havoc in the heavens .Jalandhar has an armour that is made extremely powerful by his wife's fidelity to him (pati vrata) and so Vishnu makes the armour impotent as the wife is no longer 'faithful' to her husband,Jalandhar.
Or when Goddess Ganga becomes love-lorn when her love for Lord Shiva is unreciprocated.
Or Dont we know how notorious and greedy is Lord Indra(the Lord of heavens,ironically :p)

So,this brings me back.What's the thing with mythology?Why are Gods(even the Trilogy) depicted  so humanely at one hand and all-knowing and powerful ,on the other hand.One plausible explanation could come if we consider how old these myths are and the time and circumstances under which they were fabricated.Apart from entertainment,they also served a little more profound purpose,at least.And I won't be wrong if I'd say they some of them illustrate morals.I think our sages thought the best way to bring home the morals is by making everyday man connect to the stories(thus,human-like Gods) and by making them retain (thus, stories are about higher powers,so 'better be serious about them' :p) .And considering that mythology is inseparable from religion,the genesis of organised religion comes from morality.Indeed it is,as per evolutionary psychologists.

Even non-human primates seem to have a vague feeling about morals,although the evidence is non-conclusive.Homo neanderthalensis may have buried their dead.Moreover,dolphins and even whales are known to exhibit pre-moral traits.The genesis of morality comes from sociality 'living in a society' where one is expected to act in such-and-such way.Living in groups has been a survival tactic.The chances of finding food and defence from predators is more.A team working as a whole,each member doing their part and all proceeding to the same goal.Coming together makes a community evolved(a lot more to be written about this,though in another blogpost someday:)).In essence,what I am trying to say,better the social order,better the chances of survival.
and morality is the one that brings about social order,at least thought by the early man and thus civilizations developed.

In the human scenario,with high intelligence and tremendous capacity for symbolic communication,in order to maintain social order and thus morality, organised religion developed when people were coming together more and more ,forming larger communities and greater social control,conflict resolution and group solidarity was required.

However,full-fledged organised religion could only develop when supernatural powers(Gods) were created to scrunitize individuals ,powers that were omnipresent and will give boon or bane to those aligning with or against the moral code,says psychologist Matt J. Rosanno.Indeed,many scholars have suggested that religion is "genetically hardwired" into the human condition.
For more:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_origin_of_religions

However,being religious(societal) is very different from being spiritual(individualistic).Any comments on that?Here,it is worth exploring your own definition of spirituality.
Do read the book review ,"CASE FOR GOD"http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/04/case-for-god-karen-armstrong
"We come out of the art gallery or concert hall enriched and braced, elevated and tranquil, and may even fancy ourselves better people, though the change may or may not be noticed by those around us.

the folly lies in  intellectualising the religious practice.

The mystery at the heart of religious practice is ineffable, unapproachable by reason and by language. Silence is its truest expression. The right kind of silence

 in terms of awareness and truth.  an inner process stands in need of outward criteria. You can feel good without being good, and be good without stretching your understanding beyond words. Jabberwocky": "Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas - only I don't exactly know what they are."

Watch the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsxqT4OpHoU
"religion  was born to give a meaning to reality,Our five senses have limited reach and what if the creator instead of lying above us ,lies within us,What if humanity is god multiplying itself through particles of experience..What if God is experiencing the world thru us just like we experience the world thru our five senses."

Do give me your feedback on the book review and the video.


Coming to my friends Svake's,Geek Speak's comment that the intent of religion my be peace ,but the purpose has got diluted as it's passed down the ages,and how people choose elements of religion to believe and not believe.In Svake's ticket-counter analogy,where the first guy buys a  ticket ,makes loads of copies,adds his additions(as per his convenience and belief systems) and sells the copies to the next one in line and so on..As Kyro said it,"if today's laws are open to wide interpretations,I can only imagine how they interpret milennia-old texts." In essence,People believe what they want to believe,not what they need to.We can come up with ten reasons why Muslims are bad and they can come up with 10 others reasons why Hindus are bad.They are biased according to their personal experiences.
For more,visit

In the homosexuality context,people who are homophobic will try to suppress homosexuals,taking quotes from religious texts that homesexuality is immoral.Actually,they want to believe homesexuals are immorals,and that's why they conveniently choose to ignore the circumstances under which millenia-old religious quotes were written(when societies were developing).They have also chosen to ignore,in the same religious texts, that for a society to develop there should be mutual acceptance and respect for diversity.


In light of this,it is understandable why religion is used to discriminate(like being prejudiced about learning a Muslim language or having meal in a Muslim's house) to wreaking "misuse,havoc,slaughter and fear" in Forby's comment.

For more info on the type of bias(confirmation and hindsight),visit

http://allthingswildlyconsidered.blogspot.in/2010/04/people-believe-what-they-want-to.html

shades of pink and grey

(i added many pictures ,they didnt appear when i hit the publish button.i tried many times,but no luck:(,anyways...)

lets just say ,it is saturday night aka party time:)

i go to my cupboard and see my wardrobe.ok i should write seeing my WARDROBE:)

---there is just so much variety .the more i see,the more i realize there is to see

there are glittery colors ,there are pink colors,there are weird colors,there are undergarments

there are silver colors 

some corners of the cupboard were never looked at before,certain items are there u dont even realize why,some clothes are old ,some brand new,some are gifted to you,some are half forgotten

....................................

every one has his unique blend of colors,shades of personality

some traits are just so that others see us in a certain way .Eventhough we dont like that shade very much,we use it for material gains(glittery clothes)

while some shades are superficial ,other traits reflect our true self,that we only 'wear' in front of our very near and dear ones(the undergarments)

some shades reflect our talents(the special uniforms,if you are /have been  a school prefect or captain ,you will have one)

while others remind us of our deeds(the stolen leather jacket from your friend)

everyone has their dark secrets ,so you are likely to find a dark dull coat stuffed in some small corner of your cupboard.watch out:)

while their are some traits better be forgotten,there are choices that you made that you are proud of.that brightens you up ,every now and then .like the silver shades

no matter how much we age,there is still a funny side in all of us.yes,the pink shades.u simply laugh at yourself.

at times,we do things ,say things we ourselves dont understand .like those little items that are so idly scattered in your cupboard you never understood why

new 2013,new year ,new resolutions.we try to give up the bad habits and they just seem to bounce back on us--like while looking for your brand new shirt (that u are unable to find),u end up wearing the good old worn-out T-shirt

there would always be some clothes that u didnt know before,they existed.(i never knew i enjoyed blogging so much )

Every one has their own good memories :) like while searching for your watch,u happen to take a glimpse of the red shirt gifted by yr child hood friend.

At times,some of our habits/ traits just make us happy.yes ,i am talking about hobbies like listening to music

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but whatever the content,every color smudges with one another to give the appearance of a 'painting' -your painting.it is up to us how we can appreciate it. it is okay if we have stupid or dull(even dirty) shades .it makes 'our ' painting all the more colorful

here lets take note of :
a) No one's perfect .We should accept ourselves ,the way we are .And learn to laugh at ourselves .However ,this should not mean

• we should be okay we our those traits that hurt/harm others.
• stop trying for improvement 

b)there is always scope for creation .We may add or remove shades to our personality .You are  the artist of your life

"

"rather than discovering yourself ,life is more about creating yourself"

.....................................................

 Lets dont tag anyone has "Good" or "Bad" ,"Sex seeker" or "Love seeker" ,or "Wise" /"Immature","Panicky" /"Calm and Composed"

Just because a person projects his one side or we perceive only a certain side of his personality,doesnt mean he is only that .

because everyone has shades ,many shades of personality .U also have them .

I have them.

and i also have got late for the party:(