Sin-grimage

Hey son, come here, it's your destiny,

Take a plunge to set yourself free.

Drop some treasure off the pocket,

As I bribe the gods for your fate.

Throw the polyethylene in the holy Ganges,

Plastic is more palpable than your sins and pays my wages.

Hey son, come here, I'll show you the way,

Waiting in the line is sinners' game and affray.

Don't follow their trail full of waiting and pain,

Donate a 100 bucks and you'll board a fast train.

The God's station will arrive in no time,

And the altar will feel like an aged wine.

Hey son, wait a minute, it's your place,

The shrine is home to the right race.

You've got the riches blessed by the highers,

Share some for invaluable time with non-whiners.

Sit and talk with the gods more than the others,

The others will be pushed through the structure for its brothers.

Hey son, listen to me, this is to set things right,

You've the planetary ingredients that make me fright.

It just needs some garnishing with divine chants,

Donate the holy as I help you overcome the ill rants.

Repeat my verses and you'll be the king,

Never needed to work and damsels around your wings.

Hey son, one more minute, your loved shrine is breaking,

Do something for its glory and stand tall.

I'll put your name on the wall of the the holy structure,

And it will make the smiles on our faces appear wider.

You are the blessed believer succumbing to our rule,

Flowered will be your life without any gruel.

Hey brother, hey sister, I've some words, pay heed,

Pilgrimage is not the greatest deed.

A religious business that trades the economy of emotions,

Defying the detachment and moral rules that lived once.

Pilgrimage is a process of daily life,

The visited shrines reflect sin-grimage of the managing tribe.

A Small, Private Universe

You are just one among the trillions nomading this planet. Your achievements, successes, failures, or those embarrassing moments that you have are confined to either yourself or a small universe that you have built around you. A universe where people whom you love or know – live. It is your private universe, one that matters to you, it is where you drain your energies and it's the place that charges your batteries.

You are oblivious to the many other private universes just as others are oblivious to yours. You harp, lie, work, cheat, struggle, fight, and give your best in everything to safeguard this small universe. You've built this universe with every small experience in your life. The individuals that reside in your den are those who matter to you. They are your world and the rest are people with whom you collide on busy streets and stations. Your universe's opinion and energies make you happy, sad, angry, or highly motivated. You don't give a darn to the world outside just as it doesn't give a darn to you.

I believe in living for your own universe. Just as people in your universe are the world to you, you mean a world to them. Make a universe as true and loving you can. Filter out race, religion, community, caste, and dialect as the selection criteria. Make your world as good as possible. Keep truth, wisdom, and love as its key and only ingredients. Be true irrespective of the situation.

As long as you live – politicians will be corrupt, bureaucrats will seek bribe, media will not tell the truth, marketing will drive your needs, prices will rise, wars will break, and you will doubt everything. If at any time, you feel that the world is cruel and there is no point being good, just think of the line – Thanks to your goodness, there is something more good in the world.

It is your goodness that drives happiness and truth in your universe. It is your truthfulness that motivates others around you to stay good and believe in truth, love, and honesty. Expand the domain of your universe. Spread love and goodness as long as you live. Goodness in your small universe is not negligible in the world. It matters a lot. The goodness has the potential to lead to a chain reaction of love and harmony.

Fictional Gods

Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.~ Arthur Schopenhauer

I have wondered this for some time, now -- Could various religions be work of art by various artists scattered across time and geography? For just as every area has its staple diet, it also has stapled religious practices. Each religion is also practiced with local customs that have shaped over centuries and have been influenced by local geography. For example, in some Indian states, Bramhins have been traditionally vegetarian. However, as you travel north to Jammu and Kashmir or to the coastal state of Goa, Bramhins consume meat. So, which Bramhinical way of life is the best? Abstaining from meat or enjoying what's available in plenty and is necessary to survive?

I can't answer in words better than Michel Eyquem de Montaigne's:

Every man calls barbarous anything he is not accustomed to; we have no other criterion of truth or right-reason than the example and form of the opinions and customs of our own country. There we always find the perfect religion, the perfect polity, the most developed and perfect way of doing anything!

Each religion has originated from one place and then spread across geography. It has been a slow process. The spread has taken centuries, but highly motivated individuals have wandered the earth, undergone hardships, given their life, worked as slaves, and have endured hate with a smile with a hope that they are doing the right thing for the human race.

I often wonder as Gods, across the world, have been drawn, sculpted, designed, and formed by artists, how much of their thoughts on how a particular god looks influence their art? I bet their own imagination shapes the outcome.

So, for every religion, across time, several individuals must have thought of the way the unseen, and yet the all-pervading ruler, appears. It is those individuals who would have determined what is right and wrong in the eyes of the almighty. Next, they would have garnered followers by their astute story-telling skills and making others believe -- theirs is the best way to live.

For me, if god exists, then there is just one god who has been customized by human fictional imagination. If you want a demonstration of the way we cook up information, play a game of Chinese Whispers with 10 individuals. The first phrase spoken to start the game looses accuracy at the fourth or fifth whisper. So, just imagine the accuracy of religious teachings across centuries!

In the present day and age, it's more important to love each other than to kill or fight in the name of religion, language, region, or custom. It is difficult as we can't avoid fighting even for entities like Football teams!

No matter how you have been raised, you must believe - one is all and all is one. I once heard a great speaker say -- We don't choose a religion, we are born in it.

So, love all and hate none.

I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings. ~ Albert Einstein

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

Changing Skies

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="490" caption="© 2010 Salil Lawande Photography"][/caption]

 

I wonder as innumerable people change under the changing skies,

Countless stories of love, lust and betrayal are constructed with good lies.

What may come of the stories as fate unfurls,

Make or break beliefs as hearts overcome the crazy curls.

All seems tangled and no hope dawns,

They talk to the unseen and blame the fortune's pawns.

Life moves as time heals the wounds and erases the lessons,

Making all the same and ready for more possessions.

They come back to the loop to attach and ignore the worst,

Leaving self unprepared for the untimely change to dust.

And so on the lives dwell under the changing skies,

Forgetting the simple lessons from the hard times.

Infinitely ignoring the truth and the storytellers

They make fun and seek illusion from marketers and sellers.

All it takes is a pray to self to never to lament,

A talk to self to walk the path unstrung, with no attachment.

If all may be taken away forever not to return,

Not a part of self shall sway and succumb.

Teach to love one's life's every part making it grow,

Learn life's lesson and share it to make the creed grow.

Be it happiness, Be it Sadness, hope to be the same,

Have a will to continue with a mind detached and sane.

Have the soul that talks, and fights the lies,

Make a soul that shows the paths under the changing skies.

 

Credits: Picture -- © 2010 Salil Lawande Photography, Poem Idea -- Teachings of Seneca

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Achievements and Countrymen

Don't be proud at achievements of your countrymen. They achieved doing what they love.

Be proud of what you do and what you want to achieve. What others achieve are their aspirations.

Follow your own aspirations and do it for the love of doing.

To me, the achievers are not countrymen - but just fellow human.

Patriotism in "Doing it for the country" is a marketed term.

Next time you getup, don't pride for your countrymen, but respect the achiever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterlife

Entering the doors of afterlife is a norm.

A fact of the world left untalked.

After a beloved leaves the life to enter peace.

Time goes on, but familiar whispers, footsteps are missed,

And the good of the foregone stays ripe in the mind.

All say ill speaking of the past in the room is a crime.

Irony that the one who was present craved for praise.

When he is past, the talks in mass are good in all place.

The bad is buried or burnt with the flesh.

The irony is the good talk that stays afresh.

Baffling are the critical talks as norm in life.

Be it who, time is ready at back with knives.

Hard is to get a praise for good when living.

Talk of good would've avoided the slept from sleeping.

One of humanity's irrational reasons.

Making truth bad and honest in treason.

What's the relevance when none knows the soul.

What do good words do for the indestructible soul.

A soul with no emotions shines as a light.

As it hears the redundant lies.

As it passes it speaks to self in strife.

More will mean when the good is spoken in life.

Happy could be many and may still not be in afterlife.

An Emotional Democracy

All businesses function on decision making during all projects and operations. Similarly, a functional government makes decisions in every department. The decisions may be made at a snail’s pace or be biased, but they are made. And, data is the basis of all decisions – in a government or in a business. A government bureaucrat can make decisions based on social data that he has. Alternatively, he can bias the decisions towards the pile of currency that presents itself on his table, which in this case is based on the bribe. So, decisions are also based on the data – be it actual or bribe.

The bribe-based decision-making model is a norm in almost all government departments. Consequently, almost all electoral candidates have an incentive of easy money when they contest the elections. However, we the people, who are indirectly responsible for selecting almost every major government official, have no literal, visible, and guaranteed incentive presented to us – when we vote. In addition, majority of the society still bases its decisions on emotional incentives and not data. For example, a green grocer in any village will keep an apposite profit-loss account for all his transactions irrespective of his educational qualification. If you visit him and bargain hard for a grocery, be assured that he will not agree to a deal that compromises his profit margins. However, the same vendor, who is a shrewd business man, will make emotional decisions and vote for a representative belonging to his own:

1. Religion,


2. Caste, and


3. Community

I have numbered the green grocers’ decision making criteria because he will filter the candidates – first for their religion, next for their caste, and finally for their community.

The grocer’s case applies to a major part of the population, even in the metro cities. Most people will make their personal business decisions shrewdly, but will make emotional decisions while voting. What such people need to realize is that the policies defined by the emotionally-selected candidates will directly impact our businesses, lives, and standard of society.

If a political candidate does not think beyond the welfare of one particular section, then that person is certainly unreliable and is least likely to fulfil his promises. Let’s assume that the candidate fulfils the pre-election promises for your community. As a result, it will widen the gap between your community and other sections in the society. Consequently, it will lead to divisions in the society as a whole. So, why is the case that emotional decisions are not made by most in business, but are blindly adopted in democratic voting? In addition, why are shrewd decisions overlooked while voting when the electorate will directly impact your business?

Well, it is because being human is being emotional. And, society as a whole is more emotional than us as individuals. Politicos have realized this fact and are selling emotions, and the society is buying the emotions being sold. So, we the people are not making shrewd, business-like, decisions, but are making emotional decisions to select the people who govern our country. As a result, we need to overcome our underlying attachment to people from our community and select candidates based on their forte.

From where do I get the data?

If you are wondering – from where do I get the data to make my decisions? I have two sources. First is the Internet and the next is the Media.

The Internet

The Internet has closed the information gap that existed in the past, when a lot of information was available to a select few. With the Internet, information asymmetry is rapidly beginning to disappear. Even in democracy, Internet is beginning to play its role. During every election, several sites post information about all candidates, which you can leverage and select the best candidate.

The Media

I can’t imagine most farmers in remote villages browsing the Internet, at least not in the present age. However, I am sure that most farmers will have access to either T.V. or a news paper. Hence, in a country like India, where most of the population still resides in villages, media is more important than the Internet. Therefore, the role of media is most important in a democracy as it provides the major part of society with the all important – DATA to make decisions. Hence, it is important that the media is neutral and is free of bias. As a result, we don’t need channels that showcase mystical charms of some self-proclaimed saint or horror stories of never-seen ghosts during prime time.

We need a media that is responsible and showcases important issues that affect governance and democratic operations. However, due to commercial obligations, they need to present some marketable shows or articles, but we have the option to select the channel we see or the news paper we read. So, just like you prune your business projects, filter the source of information.

The Eternal Excuse – No Candidate is Good

In most cases, you may not have any qualified candidate to select during elections. So, just don’t sit at home in regret. Register your protest by leveraging the rule 49-O, which allows you to declare that you did not find any candidate suitable for your vote. And again, don’t sit at home after registering your displeasure. Join some NGO and try to make a difference.

In addition, don’t just give charity. You cannot sign a check and think you have done something for the society. The cash drawn with the check may never reach its beneficiary. Spend some time in an orphanage, teach the under-privileged on your weekends, or just pay a visit to an old-age home. Your time and company will be more valuable than your checks. So, ACT MORE and SIGN LESS.

An Emotional Independence

Independence to me is beyond the ‘Happy Independence Day’ text messages and social networking updates. There is an emotional energy and motivation that guides me to improve, learn, teach, and be honest in an independent society. I am emotional for mine and nation’s independence, which was earned through sacrifices of selfless acts of heroism. All those who fought for the freedom were emotional for freedom, but were prudent, honest, and selfless to the core. Be emotional for them and those who are making the world a better place and avoid sentiments for those selling religion-caste-community-based emotions.

Be the business man of democracy who makes shrewd decisions to select candidates. Be a CEO who treats his vote as an investment on behalf of the society and not a charity.