03 July 2007

The War is inside you

We call it Heaven and we call it Hell but the truth is that heaven and hell are both inside us! To decide to walk on the path of change and tranformation is a path less travelled. It is like a path less taken to scale up a mountain; steep, rugged and undefined. It leads to doubt, lonliness, rejection and even failure at times but then it is a sure way of transformation. And when we decide to walk on this path, with our first step being taken on it, the war between the heaven and hell inside us starts.



The war is fierce and continuous if your search for the truth is continuous. The war is on every level of our existance: Physical, Mental and Spiritual. We are questioned on our actions, thoughts and feelings; on our rituals and our beliefs; on our past, present and future by our conscience and are put into an uncomfortable situation. It is at this point that most people give up and return back to their lives of Ignorance. You know why they say 'Ignorance is Bliss'? It is because Truth isn't!



The truth is the bitterest pill one has had to swallow most times and it is tough to acknowledge it. However it is not the truth that relies on us, rather it is we who rely on it. Truth is the universal rule, by which everything runs and stops. We are of dust and will return to dust. Nothing is permanent. Everything runs on a series of causes and effects. Causality is the prime force governing every truth we have learnt or experienced. We burn with fire and cool with ice, we breathe air and drink water, these are truths of life we acknowledge on their face value because of their sheer obviousness. But not all truths of Life are this 'in-your-face' in nature. There are many truths that go beyond our 5 senses and we take such truths based on something we call faith.

As I have said before, what we call it really does not matter here. It is the meaning attached with it. Some call it superstition, some call it rituals, many call it an obligation. And I believe faith has ended up becoming exactly what these people call it to them. And it is understandable that many have such a cynical view of faith. Firstly, it is not comprehendable by science. But the premise on which science works is that only those things sensed by our 5 senses is true. So how can I even imagine that science will ever understand all truths of Life. Therefore, we must first acknowledge this that all the truths cannot be reasoned, that all truths of life cannot be proved. And then is it that the conflict between the conscience and the mind reduces. But then how is it that we will be able to realize 'these' truths of Life? Just as the truths, our sensing mechanisms for these truths too are not very sharp. We call it Gut Feeling, Instinct, Intuition, Conscience. These senses are the ones we fail to use in our daily life. These are the senses that our philosophy heavily rely on. And why is that? Because of the fact that the philosophy needs for the unison of Body, Mind and Spirit. And that is never possible unless the senses of the Body, Mind and Sprit combine. That is exactly what we need to achieve at first.

Over the years we have learnt to ignore, sideline, and reason out of our use of these extra senses. Learnt to stop pondering, learnt to avoid contemplation, introspection. And then suddenly after indulging overselves solely to the needs of our 5 senses we find ourselves rich yet not wealthy, knowledgeable yet not wise, famous yet not respected. And wealth, wisdom, respect and other such 'Virtues' hardly need the things our 5 senses deem important! And that is precisely where the breaking point of our conflict is. In awakening our extra senses and using them judiciously.

Try to consider what your senses have to say to you and try to act on some of those things. That is how slowly but surely you will build belief and faith. Spend time in silence, Observe nature closely whenever possible, spend time with children, do simple things like strolling in the park or singing in the shower with great fervour and enthusiasm! These things help you disconnect from your 5 senses to some extent and help connect with your extra senses. Cry when you feel like crying, laugh when you feel like laughing. Express yourselves thoroughly and sincerely. Keep your feelings pure and without any ulterior motive.

Simple things like these help you in a big way to achieve that truce necessary between the mind and the conscience and help heaven win the battle over the hell within you!

02 July 2007

The Power of ONE

This is the first blog I write for the cause of the Social Cell. It will help its readers understand the philosophy, which led to the start of the Social Cell be understood better and more deeply.

What is the purpose of starting another Social Organization for the service to the People, the Environment or the Nation? We already have umpteen number of Social Cell-like Groups and NGOs existant in our society, why join the Social Cell, why be a part of this movement?

Well, my answer to you all is, 'You're Absolutely Right!' You need not join the Social Cell. This is not about the organization but the intentions. You could work with any other NGO or Social Organization or might even be working with them currently. The point that is more important than ASSOCIATION is ACTION. Most times, we fail to ACT upon our intentions simply because we give more weight to 'Whom' we work with rather than 'What' we work for!

My appeal to you is to go out there and look around you. See the misery and pain, smell the stench of lethargy and laxity from our drains, hear the cries for help from injustice, taste the bitterness of the poison you eat in urea-enriched food, be touched by poverty, sorrow, lonliness. And then ask yourselves; not that person you see in the mirror when you brush your teeth, but that person you encounter every night as you go off to sleep, the real you who is hidden (maybe even buried!) between the walls of Conscience and Fear and ask him/her how would it like to break free and DO something about it. And I am sure the day you do these things and meet that person, you will be back again to read more if you stop reading this right now!



The Power of One: it sure sounds very cliché to some, very cheesy to someone else, very 'neo' to some others. It does not matter what it sounds like; you could call it whatever you may choose to. What matters more is what it stands for and more importantly what WE stand for, which in effect means what I stand for. And in this loop we realize THE POWER OF ONE philosophy is about us more than about the philosophy. From the moment we realize this truth, we will find the eyes of our soul opened to the truth of life.

All of you will agree that any Power cannot be derived from thin air, it needs a source. In this case, we act as the source of this power that I speak of. But who is WE or I? The Body, the Mind, the Soul? Although many might tell you it is one of the three, it is in reality all three components working in tandem that stands for WE or I.

The Power of One is the philosophy of firm and total belief in One's ability to achieve limitless good by ourselves. Firm because without it our faith in our beliefs can be shaken by the storms of life. Total means in body, mind and spirit. It derives its roots from various Religious beliefs and Ways of life, things we already know. Then why have we never this power within us? That is because we pick and choose how we wish to implement the philosophy. Some of us have Total belief in it but not Firm and change our beliefs in every aspect of our lives as per convenience while some choose to have Firm faith in the philosophy but only thru lip service or thought cleansing. And I must admit, it is not that easy to do so. It takes years to achieve such power within oneselves.

People who surely possessed this power are truly great. Whether it was Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa or Joan of Arc, or anyone else who you know personally who have done something that you think is beyond your capacity: the truth of the matter is all of them possessed this power on different levels.

What is this Power and how it help change our lives and those around us shall be covered in forthcoming blogs. For now I leave you with these translated words from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore,
"Who takes over from me,
The setting Sun calls out.
Hearing this,
The whole universe fell silent,
Then a Tiny Earthen Lamp
Slowly stood up and said,
My Lord I will do my best."
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