Dear friends, Hope you are all enjoying the beginnings of spring. I was walking to work the other day, another bright, energetic spring morning. The waters of the lake were being sloshed up by the wind. My mind was full of the weight of events coming up, the pressure to finish things. Taxes, final exams, earth day,… The thinking was well, it will all be over in 2 weeks, and we will be in the heaven of summer, master of our own time. But then I paused for a minute, and asked myself, don’t we go through this every year? Why feel pressure during the rest of the year? This day, this moment, is heaven. There are an endless array of exciting events waiting to unfold this very day, and much joy and peace to be experienced as well. I decided to try and enjoy that day as much as I could, and do something useful for myself and the world. And so I hope this letter finds you enjoying the moment, and may you enjoy every moment of the rest of your day as well. Sankar PS: I have posted some new photos (cherry blossoms, tulips, snow) at http://flickr.com/sankarx View as slideshow with captions enabled for best effect. Random Thoughts (76) 11 April 2009 1. (3/23) Read article by Robert Kaplan in Atlantic while at Kramerbooks. Says Narendra Modi might get into a position of national power. Scary. This is something that will be nightmarish for India and the world. Modi is truly the anti-Gandhi. He will destroy everything India has stood for, as far as I am concerned. I hope to God that the hindu nationalists don’t get anywhere near power. Manmohan, I am praying for you. 2. By now you have probably figured out that I am a big fan of Obama. Certainly there are many things on which I disagree with him, but overall, I have learned quite a bit from observing the folks working at the Whitehouse. Based on news reports these guys work from 5.30 in the morning until 10.30 at night, seven days a week, because there are things to be done. I am certainly not capable of that, but I am going to try and increase the amount of work time as much as I can. As mentioned earlier I like their discipline in getting up early and doing exercise. I am trying to be more regular in exercising as well. They are extremely rational, well-organized and good at planning things. I can use a little more of that in my thinking and decision-making. I need to be more goal-oriented and rational in my thinking, at least in some aspects of life. One can’t live in the world simply as a creative and spiritual person, if you don’t have someone to take care of the other aspects of life. I like how Obama tries to persuade even those who disagree with him. Often when faced with someone that disagrees with me strongly or is doing things in a way that is completely different from what I would do, my tendency is to just leave them alone and/or stay away from them. It is a more mature thing to do to try to engage and persuade those that disagree with you. Challenging as well, but it is a challenge one could learn to enjoy tackling. 3. (3/26) Today in our book group (Yongey Mingyur Rionpoche’s “Joy of living”) we were talking about freedom. He points out how we continue to live with our chains just because they are familiar. Now the chains can be heavy and painful, or they can be golden chains. I think in India many people live with the painful chains, while in the US many live with the golden chains. The dominant elite tell them, “Just work as hard as you can, give me most of the money, and I will give you a six-pack, a nice home and car, and all the entertainment you will ever need.” Most people seem to be happy with this arrangement. Of course there is nothing wrong with living comfortably, but I think if you want to live a different sort of life the system makes it somewhat difficult. I do believe that in the US there is more freedom than most other countries. If you want to live a life different from the mainstream it is certainly possible, but takes much effort. In general in most communities people accept the chains imposed on them by the mainstream. 4. The world is our backyard. Pollution in China and squalor in India can be seen in real time on our computer and TV screens. If you have HDTV or a big flat screen monitor on your computer you can see them as if they are happening in front of you. We cannot escape misery and live in our little comfort zones. I was flipping through channels on TV and on one of the reality shows two young African- American girls were in a taxi in Jaipur while on a race to reach Bangkok. A whole bunch of kids pressed their faces against the window and begged them for money. The expressions on their young and unkempt faces was extremely pitiful. The image stayed in my mind for a couple of days. How can I not be in Jaipur trying to help these kids live a dignified life? After all, they are of my own blood. I simply couldn’t shake off the image from my mind. This is something I think about all the time, and always I come to the same conclusion. It is better to build on what I have now, and try to help others doing what I enjoy. In his book the good monk Yongey Mingyur tells the story of a man who was inspired by Milarepa and wanted to become a Boddhisattva like him. He immediately gave up everything he had and went to a cave and started meditating. But his mind and body simply could not handle it and he had to return and start the process again, and do things gradually. The monk could have been talking about me because I have done this very same thing, literally. I have learned over the years that the gradual approach is the best. One must always know what is possible and push the envelope a few inches at a time. Currently I am trying to do what I can in the movement to reduce global warming. Hopefully I will be able to help India a little bit in this way, because India (along with Africa) is one of the places most vulnerable to global warming related natural catastrophes. As for the little children, there are many good charities working on improving health and education, and I hope to increase my support for them. 5. More about Obama: I have to admit I think quite a bit about Obama. So much so that he appears in my dreams (mildly disturbing when you wake up and realize that). But don’t worry, unlike the “liberal” media (according to Ann Coulter), I don’t want to have sex with him. It is more because I have so much invested in him, in terms of my hopes for the environment, social justice, etc., Sort of like a mother keeping track of her child’s progress. One day last week I was on campus, walking up the steps of what is known affectionately at Howard as the “valley”. (Maybe not as affectionately by people who don’t enjoy climbing up all those steps every day). The sky was clear, with just a few clouds, the air was warm and the breeze was gentle and pleasant. I remembered that this was how it was, everyday, in Hawaii. Perhaps the consistently peaceful and calm weather of Hawaii (except of course, for the rare tsunami, volcano, etc.,) is conducive to the development of a mindset of equilibrium and continuous calmness. Obama probably developed this mindset in Hawaii. Many pundits are baffled by his moves. They don’t understand his motivations. That is because they are trying to understand him by the conventional political standards. They are trying to gauge what he is trying to get at, whether he is trying to manipulate things in a certain way. They are either unable to understand or simply unwilling to accept that he is a different kind of politician, even a different kind of man. I suggest to them, spend a little time in Hawaii, read a few books about Eastern philosophy or, for that matter, about the western saints. 6. (Week of April 6) I was heartened by the success of Obama on this historic tour of Europe. In particular I was really happy to see that he was able to connect with Manmohan Singh, and he kept saying what a wise and decent man Singh was. But I also observed some dark clouds in his face. I hope that is just my imagination, and not suggestive of any real problems. It is possible he finds that, as President, there are things he has to do for the sake of the country that he is not comfortable with. Perhaps he is worried about the economy. His comments in Europe revealed some discomfort with the legislative process and the difficulty of getting things done with Congress. He seems to have scaled back his plans for health care reform and climate change legislation. I hope they get something done about climate change this year. Shrewd commentators like Gergen and Samuelson have pointed out that the economy needs to be his sole focus right now. They make a valid point, and I have to respect their judgment, but this is no time to err on the side of caution. The planet cannot wait for action. All the forecasts point to accelerated climate change and worsening scenarios. Obama’s real test of leadership is whether he can convince people of that. Volunteers can help, but he needs to take the lead. I mean, Bush was able to convince a majority to go on a trillion dollar war of choice…Never mind, that is a bad example. Bush’s charge was based on false information and misleading propaganda, and the war became much bigger than what it should have been mostly because of mismanagement. 7. After changing my diet (to low carb) I find that my relationship with food has changed entirely. Previously I thought it was because I was not a good cook, or didn’t exercise enough, etc., But now I find myself with honest to goodness hunger every four or five hours. It is not a vague craving for carbohydrates or sugar but rather an unambiguous signal for the need for nutrition. I can feel that the food is digesting much better and it certainly tastes better. 8. This past week I found myself with continual pain in the abdomen and pelvic area. I felt discomfort while walking or even sitting. My best guess was that a kidney stone (possibly caused by the sudden change in diet) was making its way down the body. To make matters worse while the body was weak it was attacked by the cold virus. It is all good now but for three days I felt like a pregnant woman. I cannot imagine how they do it for ten months. 9. Water is life. Our existence is centered around it. This clear, unassuming liquid makes everything possible without ever advertising its presence. Whether it is the vast ocean or a flowing river or gurgling stream or clouds of steam or crystals of ice, its beauty is sublime. It has the patience to go around rocks, and the strength to cut through them if it needs to. The stillness of a lake is as absolute as the activity of the ocean waves. When the lake is disturbed it regains its clarity and perfection of shape without any effort and without the slightest deviation. Under the rolling waves of the ocean is the eternal peace of the deep waters. 10. (Sunday, 4/5) I was lying on the grass of Carter Barron studying. In front of me the silhouette of trees still bare from the winter dropped into the rock creek valley. From a distance they looked like little sticks. On the other hand, if I were an ant, the blades of grass in front of me would look as big as trees. So I guess it is all a matter of perspective. I have tried to capture this idea in one of the pictures on flickr (address mentioned above). Your homework is to figure out which one it is :) 11. This week I had been feeling a little low, partly due to the health issues, but also about not having someone to share life with. Of course I have my family and friends like you, but you know what I mean. But last night I happened upon the movie “Three Kings” on TV. I watched the last hour or so. In spite of it being an action movie and a war movie (the first Iraq war of 1990) I found it very engaging and educational. To see the horrors of war, the loss of life of dear ones, the sight of blood and wounded flesh, it reminded me of the fragility of life and the real suffering that people go through. Really put my “problems” in perspective. 12. Suddenly a question popped up in my head: Why two nostrils? As for the eyes and ears, they get differing views of the same scene (or sound) which combine to give perception of depth. But when it comes to smell, both nostrils get the same molecules, right? Apparently, the airflow in the two nostrils is slightly different, and so the molecules absorbed by them are also slightly different. So it seems we can even tell where a smell comes from.