Friends and seekers,  

Hope all of you are doing well, and that I will hear from you soon. 

We are all seeking something in our life, always in pursuit of
something. The truly enlightened ones seek to stop even the seeking of
the stopping of seeking. But mere mortals like myself, with our complex
baggage of ego, emotions and desires, are in pursuit of a thousand
different things every moment of our lives. Nevertheless, there are
times when we pause for a very brief moment and reflect on what is
really going on, and ask when will we be at peace with ourselves. And if
we are lucky, during those moments we will also be able to step back and
simply observe, appreciate and enjoy all of life like spectators in an
All-Star baseball game where you simply watch and appreciate without
rooting or hoping for anyone or anything.

Sankar

Random thoughts (35)
7/18/04

1. Sometimes it is difficult to truly appreciate or even tolerate
certain people. It may help to remember then that to each person there
is atleast one who loves that person passionately, who sees him or her
from a different perspective that makes him or her lovable and endearing.

2. Where does the passion for a religion and ideology come from? What
gets people so worked up in defense of their religion or their favourite
ideology? To answer this, maybe we should look at what else people are
attached to so much. It will be their mothers, fathers, lovers, and
children. All of these are things which people are born to or develop an
attachment to because it is essential to their lives. Perhaps religion
and ideology, by providing a framework for people's lives from a young
age, create similar attachment and devotion. 

3. But definitely something more is at work when people go about trying
to impose their religion and ideology on others. Perhaps there it is the
thinking that offense is the best form of defense -- that if I don't
make mine the dominant religion or ideology, someone else will make
theirs the dominant one. Some of these people atleast claim that they
are doing it out of love for humanity, that they are trying to save the
world. It is difficult to accept such self-serving arguments from all
except a few, truly
selfless ones. But then again such saints will not try to impose or
convert, but simply teach and let their followers to learn and practice
what they will. It is the followers who try to impose and convert.

5. Once again, another tragedy in India has brought news about India to
TV and the newspapers. I hope this sad and shameful event will atleast
serve as a wake-up call to people in India. At times like this some
people will immediately wonder, what sort of community lets such things
to happen? Others will try to make excuses. But there is no excuse for
all the poverty, hunger and 
suffering. I'd rather the outside world think of India as a wretched
place until everyone in India has a decent standard of life. Poverty,
hunger and oppression have to be removed first, only then can there be
true spirituality and culture. It should be part of our spiritual quest
to help those who are in need.

6. On BBC news yesterday they showed a Paraguayan peasant woman
strugling to hold on to her land and her way of life while all the farms
around her were switching to soybean culture. She said "They don't want
life. They only want money." Those two sentences succinctly bring out
the difference in attitude between the defenders of globalization and
industrialization and some of its
opponents. It is not just a question of a different way of improving the
economy, it is about people defending a certain way of life. This woman
was prepared to die with her land. Some people are interested in
accumulating material wealth and prosperity, some are not. Even those
capitalists who understand this difference, will say that only mass
manufacture and a global free market economy is capable of providing a
decent standard of life to all. This is again as self-serving as the
arguments of the proselytizers mentioned in (4) above. If they are truly
interested in the well-being of all, surely with their energy, ingenuity
and knowledge they are capable of creating a system which allows people
to live in their chosen way AND be able to sustain themselves. Those who
support "enlightened self-interest" often tend to overlook the
enlightenment part.

7. On the other hand there is a report about the changes in rural
America that was reviewed in the latest "Scientific American." This
report by the USDA studies the changes in six representative rural
communties in the US. The same six communities were studied and the
results recorded in the early 1940's. Apparently, while the loss of
their agricultural way of life caused decline, displacement and
resulting depopulation, these communities have managed to maintain their
social organization and civic spirit. Today only 17% of the US lives in
rural areas (in 1800, it was 94% ; in 1950, 36%), and only 6% of the
rural population is engaged in farming. But apparently better
communications and transport have enabled to develop a wider range of
relationships, and preserve their civic values. But I wonder exactly
what values this report studied and how they evaluated their
preservation. Also, it is not much of a success if only a small
percentage of people preserve their values. Moreover, these six
communities do not form a 
scientific sample and their experience is not the same as those of
several other communities which have had more trouble maintaining their
socio-economic vitality amid all the economic hardships and displacement.

8. How are India's traditional values surviving amid all the
socio-economic changes and turmoil that are going on? One thing is for
sure -- the huge population and resulting congestion in cities and
surrounding areas makes it very difficult to live a quiet,
contemplative life there. (That is one advanage that rural America has).
Even in the ancient times the Rishis would retreat to the forest for
meditation. But what about the way of life -- the focus on family and
living a pious, God-centered life eschewing the mindless pursuit of
pleasure? I don't know the answer to this. Maybe I'll find out if I
spend enough time in India. It has been 15 years since I spent more than
a month there, continuously.

9. One of the things I love about America today is what a melting pot it
is. While its competitive, aggressive lifestyle creates some people who
are almost freakish monstrosities in terms of their excessively
well-developed bodies and ambitious and calculating minds, the melding
together of cultural influences and genetic traits sometimes create
truly wonderful, creative people unshackled by the tribal and parochial
allegiances of non-hybrid people.

10. I often wonder, what do the cool people, with their mod hairstyles
and trendy dresses, hip lingo and groovy gestures talk about? When they
hang out at all those cool places, do they simply strut their hairstyle,
dress, lingo and gestures, or do they also talk about something? Then
one day I was also wondering, how do all those cool places and products
find customers? Voila, there is the answer -- cool people talk about
cool places and products when they meet! 

11. (The previous paragraph was my attempt at humour. I didn't mean to
be unduly sarcastic or judgemental.) Here is a puzzle for you. I saw
these words inside a metro rail car one day. Can you tell what language
this McDonald's ad is in? : ti 'nivol m'i