HAIKU

HAIKU

Swaying to the tune; she dances 

Lost in a world of unknown trance

The flow of her nape arouses

Desires rooted, deep down in my heart.

A kaleidoscopic canvas fills my eyes

A misty cool feeling satiates my mind

One hue with rays of shades

A picture or a painting

I can rarely say.

Shooting stars across the sky

Colourful they turn as my wish is granted by

Slowly they disappear into the dark night

Filling me with hope for another starry night.

Lost in the world, against the bright light

She stands alone by herself

Trying to seek solace in the world of her mind

Where hope is the beginning of each new day.

He stares at her, whilst she's looking away

Making a promise he'll take her away

That is what she too dreams about

Contemplating its not just, too late....

PS*- This is Haiku Poetry. Its a form of Japanese Poetry wherein a single feeling or impression is expressed through 3,5 or 7 lines. 

December Magic

Have you ever felt love? This question may sound quite crazy to you and most of you reading this must think im crazy which albeit is very much true :) but still....have u felt love? Most of us associate love with an emotion we feel for some person that makes us feel good. But thats restricted convenience. Coz that very same person when pisses you off, also takes the emotion of love right out of the window.

Love in its purest form is unconditional; for everyone and everything around you and within you. It doesnt differentiate or discriminate. It just flows and fills you up. Love is the joy of giving, without expectations. Unconditional love is inspiring. It helps you grow, brings you courage, makes you realize the beautiful vast potential that we have within us. But why am I talking about love?

December is one of my most favourite time of the year. Right from the clear blue skies to the chilly winter mornings.. From hot pakodas to old monks, planning party schedules to putting up the christmas tree and then finally working out new year travel options to the zillions of new year resolutions that are emptied immediately with the next bottle of beer down. December is the month of magic. The magic of Love. 

As I soak in the love, I run through all the beautiful moments this year has given. A gift from the universe. A gift for which I have nothing but immense gratitude for. A recent ritual I have started owing to this gratitude is getting up every morning and thanking the universe first thing for just giving me another oppurtunity to spread love and a new day to marvel and learn from its beauty. 

Love is not just about romance.. Its about the experience it fills you with. The small peck on the forehead from the person you love to the innocent smile from a child in the supermarket.. Small conversation with the maid working in your house to saying hello to the building watchman. All these acts are expressions of love. Expressing it can be done in a dozen ways but the emotion itself is formless. Its complete. 

To love, one needs to be in love with oneself. Only when you filled with it; is when you can share it with everyone around. Try walking through the grass bare foot and feel the romance between your feet and the grass. Splash around in water and soak in the love the water fills you up with. Close your eyes, look towards the sun and feel its warmth just for you. Similarly, hold the little finger of the person you love and walk a mile in silence. Communication in love requires no words. Its when you go within yourself, unearth the abundance of love that lies unkown in the heart, accept it and then cherish the feeling of renewal evertime you share that love with anyone and anything.

Happy Nothingness

The weather today reminds me of all the vacations I want to take and the places I want to travel to. Most of them I have already been to, albeit virtually :) but today im seriously considering packing my bags and just taking off. I do that quite often in mumbai.. Mini versions of going wandering...all by myself. Its just walking to nowhere. 

The last two three days have been quite challenging. The challenge to coexist effortlessly. My thoughts have been all over the place. Over powered by my desires. Trust me, its a tricky situation to be in. I had to tune in more to the voice that I needed to listen. And though at times, the voice was quite loud and clear in its messages, my selfish mind refused to pay heed. 

It was only when I went within to our natural state of nothingness, that I could just observe and relax myself. Do you know that as humans we are always in a state of meditation. Its inherent. Its just that we fail to acknowledge it consciously. What is meditation? Im sure everyone will have a different answer to this. Mine is a state of nothingness filled with happiness.

When we are in the mothers womb, we are in a state of meditation. Doing nothing happily. Then we emerge.. still happy and doing nothing. Its when the kama manas takes over, and we get dissolved in our own mind and forget most of the potential we born with. Desires is the base for belief. They are assumptions that you would like to manifest. As long as these desires stay desires and the intention behind them is clear, there is no harm in sending them out into the universe. 

Guilty over the fiasco that has been cooking in my mind, im requesting it to surrender to my heart. After hours of unnessary and relentless explanations which by the way didnt work at all, all I needed is go back to our inherent state. The bliss of surrender works wonders. Its when you give up flapping your hands and legs like idiots that you float. And precisely, thats what meditation helps you to do. Dont beat yourself up with your thoughts but just observe them. Because its when you observe them with detachment; is when you break out of the mould of identifying yourself with them. And when you stop identifying with your thoughts, is when they cease to exist for the lack of reaction from you. The state of happy nothingness :)

All in the MIND....

Sitting in my window feeling the cool breeze, listening to the sounds of the birds and just soaking in the moment. Its something I do every morning after the weekly morning ritual of seeing my baby off to school and before I start my day. Its a window of 'me time'. 

Today though seems different. 

I have millions of thoughts crisscrossing my mind. Im just observing them. While doing so I realize, these many thoughts running in my mind may have different words but the message is the same. Its LOVE.... Im in a state of love.

The love has come from my gratitude to everything today. That I did wake up and so did my loved ones, to live another beautiful day in the company of each other. Take a moment and think.. If you get up one morning and find your loved one sleeping besides you gone; how would that make you feel. I know im being quite drastic but it just dawned on me how feeble life is. How many things would have been left to see, do, tell, share...... Our brilliant ability to take everything for granted then leaves us with the feeling of guilt, emptyness, void. And inspite of knowing this we are still occupied with mundane things that take up most of our energy and time. Do we even know the meaning of leisurely anymore? Even while on vacations most of us are caught up making plans of what to do next. Hello.... Didnt you come here to just chillax and maybe learn something while you are at it. 

I envy the village people every time I go for a trek. Trekking is an addiction by the way. The silence, solitude and serenity of being in the company of nature in the lap of the universe is unimaginable. Will keep that experience for another post though. Do you know how it feels to just sit underneath a tree through out the morning and deep into the afternoon and just see the clouds pass by. The messages are loud and clear. Its just us who are so caught up in this cacophony that we fail to even listen to our own body forget anything around. 

Today is one such morning when im deeply tuned within. Just observing. My silence helps me listen. As my breath slows down, I can sense that each part of my body has a mind of its own and is revealing in its own moment. My fingers are enjoying the moment of touch with my love and silence is doing all the talking. A surge of warmth fills me up as my arms feel the hugs which do the talking when words fail me. Its bliss in a moment which feels like eternity. Im so wrapped in the now that I have actually become love. 

The phone rings ending the moment.. Argh.. Gadgets I tell myself. But the new me still in the state of love; thankfully is quite happy to hear my father on the other end asking caringly.. Would you be joining us for lunch today.. ?

Ah! gadgets I tell myself again.. Now in different light but nevertheless in gratitude.

A feeling called LOVE

A light breeze caressing a withered leaf.... 

being picked up and swept away by this gentle breeze so lovingly that the leaf was ready to go wherever whichever direction the breeze took it. There was love in the way the breeze touched and picked up the leaf, swept the leaf with it and let it merge with its essence its fragrance its lightness. The love that the breeze bought made the leaf want to live again, to sway to its tunes, to feel the raindrops as they would dance on it. But to merge with this breeze the leaf has to understand and learn to love....just as the breeze careeses everything it touches so will the leaf have to learn to live again. But the leaf is so withered that every crinkle u touch turns it to dust. So it will either have to die and be born again to be with the breeze or it will have to turn into dust and still be swept away by the breeze. No matter what or which way, the leaf has to wander off with the breeze.   

Have u noticed how effortlessly the wind flows, romancing everything in its way. It doesnt discriminate its love towards anything or anyone in particular. But, its not always in the mood for romance. There are times when it carries the emotion of anger causing destruction to every little thing that stands in its path without the same bias. Just like the romancing wind, we need to learn to flow effortlessly loving everyone and everything that comes in our path spreading the fragrance of compassion and kindness. This happens only when we learn to calm the mind and look at the stillness in the picture, observing every detail that was distorted by the ripples. Most of the times we are living as a perception of others expectations, forgetting who we really are. There is a much bigger picture than we can actually visualize. The moment we realize this; is the moment the journey begins. There is no past or future. Its all about being in the now. If you give it a thought you'll realize, Everything in the universe is in motion. So are we. And anything thats moving keeps changing. So what I was a moment ago is a different me now. But its still me. When we learn to observe as a third person, and let all the different me come together to unite harmoniously is the moment we are in equilibrium with the universe. Emotions and thoughts are always there. Understanding this and detaching from them is when one finds liberation. 

Like I said.. To be with the breeze you have to become the breeze, similarly to feel the love you have to become love. Its the only emotion on which the universe exists. Understand love and everything will fall in place. 

Bhandara

Just as the first light begins etching out the world around; the clear blue sky is filled with a yellow mist of turmeric powder....'Bhandara' along with loud cry's of 'Yel Kot Yel Kot Jai Malhar'. A colourful festival celebration held on the auspicious full moon of february-march Maghipurnima and Somvati Amavasya in the temple of Lord Khandoba ( Shiva ). 'Jejuri' a place of true religious faith, is a hilltop temple situated in the interiors of Maharashtra. 

Ancient mythology states the killing of demons 'Mani' and 'Malhar' by Lord Shiva because of their harassement to sages and common man. The day thus symbolizes the victory of good over evil. 

Commencement to the day celebrations is by smearing Turmeric powder 'Bhandara' over foreheads and spreading it in the air in the name of Lord Shiva. The turmeric powder which signifies gold, purity of mind and body; is believed to cleanse the environment and body of impurity and evil. Not only of medicinal but also of spiritual relevance, Bhandara is thus a mark of joyous victory, purity and goodness for one and all. 

The festival which is celebrated every year in a pompous fashion is marked by changes in dressing and headgears. Though some rituals and traditions like offering first child in service of god are eliminated, the enthusiasm of people still keeps the authenticity of the festival alive in good spirits.

Maya

I stare at the blue sky.. so near it seems today. Something runs through my mind; dont know what exactly it is. Feels like someone's pushing me. Not a fall but just an urge to find something beyond. But beyond what? life, death, past, future..oh! So philosophical it all sounds. But then there is something. Right there.. which cannot be seen easily but has to be felt to be perceived. I feel it right here, within me. A force that sometimes pushes me hard to look for something..; something beyond and that what I cant specify. I may define it as peace, calmness, satisfaction but no its something way beyond that. An inner strength so strong that just helps me to flow. 

How many people will have had the same feeling as mine? Very few or a lot maybe. Even so most of them would have just diminished it as a passing thought or a sign of stress due to pending office work which needs to be completed over the weekend. 

Gazing then into the unknown sea of my soul, I see a few islands - ideas, thoughts, feelings all that have been developed, felt, scattered over a period of time in the closed space of my mind room. The thought of exploring them has never striked me before. Not because of lack of curiosity..oh I have plenty of that, but just one plain notion..Fear.  But now it seems different. The waves which travel all the way just to touch the golden sand and spill on the sea shore urge me to walk through them, to feel the cold sand beneath my feet, to listen to the melody the breeze carries and above all to just be myself or rather find the true me. The urge is so strong that I drag myself just to touch the surf but end up wading through the waves on an unknown journey of discovery. On the way, I come across angry tides whose fury lashes my vision, currents so strong that make me loose my balance but I keep rowing knowing that the journey I have set on is not defined by a course but will gradually find my way as the sails turn in the direction of the wind, as the storm passes a clear sky will emerge. A sign that only my heart may find. 

Soon enough, a fear grips my spine as I find myself all alone in the midst of the ocean with no visibility of land on the horizon. I cant turn back. I have to keep rowing forward or else I will be lost in the middle of nowhere. At that very moment a series of images flash in front of my eyes. What if I really got lost and end up in the middle of the ocean for whats remaining of my life, till maybe someone sailing by comes and finds reduced pieces of thin bones. Or land someplace on a remote island to find different beings gazing at me with loving eyes. Better still, I keep on rowing my boat and go on till my very last breath; exploring and not getting caught up in the web of failure or success, happy or sad spells. Otherwise so called life wouldnt have any meaning at all. 

Shaken and disturbed by these thoughts though, I surprisingly find a strength and courage I didnt know I possess.. They helped me to venture and look deep within myself. 

Maya ....with the sun setting over the horizon and the twilight sublimely giving way to a beautiful night, she' s standing all to herself. The sky now looking down upon her smiling..

An out of season roar of thunder makes her stance shudder and she feels an instinctive need to run but a voice within tells her to stop. I have to let go, she murmurs to herself and having said that lets herself be carried by the wind and flow with it in any which direction it pleases. Feeling its fragrance and eventually merging into it. She no longer tries to control the thoughts as they themselves decide to pour. She merely just chooses to obseve them as an outsider and smile.  

Just a Thought....

Sometimes people come into our life and we know right away that they were meant to be there....To serve some sort of purpose, teach us a lesson, help us figure out who we are and can become. We never know who these souls are but when you lock eyes with them, the profound feeling of knowing in that moment is enough to say it all. Many a times painful, unfair and horrible circumstances is what we encounter; making us question the very basics of our existence here. But in reflection on those times one finds that without those obstacles there would be no growth, no realization of one's strength and potential to be a step forward in what we actually can be. Everything happens for a reason, neither good or bad. It happens because its just meant to happen; coz thats the very best for us. Theres a much broader perspective than our feild of vision. We are childrens of that One who created us from itself and that One knows what is best for us. Nothing that you incapable of will ever be offered to you. To make the best out of it is our responsibility. Without these challenges, this journey we call life would be boring, dull and pointless. 

When someone hurts you, betrays you and breaks your heart.... Forgive them. For they have taught you about trust. When someone loves you, love back unconditionally. Not because they love you but because they are teaching you to open your heart and fill it with the most strongest and only emotion on which this universe works. Appreciate every moment and take from those moments everything that you possibly can..the feelings, sensations, thoughts etc. Speak to people who you have never spoken to and actually Listen. Fill yourself with love and compassion. You cant spread happiness unless you become it. Today is the tomorrow; you were worried about yesterday.