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Perspectives

Quiet Please

It is tough to acknowledge that thoughtlessness exists. But either through guidance or accident, once you discover the state, it can be an addiction with a difference. Why?

Imagine you are stuck in a traffic jam. There is honking, confusion, irritation, desperation, and lack of clarity. That is usually the state of your mind. Sometimes you are aware of it, but generally, you are so much accustomed to this “normal” that it is tough to imagine or desire an escape route, a clear road.

All of us get so used to this energy drain. Just as the crisscross movement of vehicles doesn’t leave any road space for free movement, the same is the “normal” state of our minds. There is no space left for any insight and creativity. The energies are locked. Our disks are usually full. There are no separate partitions either. The only option left is to optimize the space we have.

But can we remove the unused files permanently? The problem is, we cannot. We are so programmed by our conditioning, memories, and tendencies that it is hard to dump the data in one go. What can be done in order to clear the road? Unnecessary tasks can be killed. Immediately, new possibilities will emerge. That is what thoughtlessness does.

Every time you are able to enter this state, suddenly there is load shedding. Infinite calm. True, it is not generally possible to be alone on this road for more than a few seconds. Just as you start enjoying or acknowledging the “change”, thoughts from all directions will enter and hit you. Not an issue. Once you know that a new normal exists, you’ll keep trying. You will realize that you do have some power after all. You will finally understand that the world dies if the mind becomes silent. You will acknowledge that deep relaxation and freedom from daily demons can be achieved without drugs.

Like King Janaka, you will also wonder, “यह सच या वह सच “, which is my real state?

Categories
Perspectives

Smile Please !

Why should you smile for the photographer? Or why should you consciously smile at all? What is this tradition of showing your teeth or twisting your lips for the world?

Shouldn’t your inner self gleam through unfiltered? As it is? What is this “fool yourself and the world” madness? A game where both the observer and the observed are fooling each other?

False display of happiness cannot ever substitute for true inner peace and contentment. I do not know about the origins of laughing Buddha, but any image of the “enlightened one” that comes to mind shows him half smiling, tranquil, and at peace with himself. Sri Rama has always been depicted as emotionally stable, balanced, and radiant. Maybe this trend of smiling for the camera is a very recent phenomenon.

A smile is a natural gesture, a sentiment ( bhava ). The face radiates what lies within unless one tries to radiate what others want to see. Most of our words and actions have an artificial touch of conformity and are tuned for social acceptance. Now when even the facial expressions become a victim of this madness not much “naturalness” is left.

The glorious man-made era of selfies and pouts has rendered that natural pose and poise redundant. The more you twist your lips and distort your face, the better your camera appeal.

Well, it entirely depends on you as to what you do with your face in this “my choice” era. I am a bit outdated though and find it tough to mold my expression as per external diktats. Why can’t the camera capture “what is “? Let it capture those dry, dull, depressed faces. Let it learn to capture those natural expressions once again. Let your style quotient go to hell and you be captured with your innocence or beastly self, whatever it is. Let you allow the camera to capture the real “YOU”. Why should an entire generation and population be caught with the same expression? The world indeed becomes boring this way.

Why should the so-called influencers and celebrities be allowed to project heavenly sides of their lives and sway the youth with falsity?

Just as mega/Giga/Tera/peta pixel cameras will come and go and become redundant, the nonsense they have led to will also die a slow death. The era of bland, “expressionless” pics will be back again. The child will smile and laugh, irrespective of someone capturing him or not. You will become a child again. The flower will become a flower again, irrespective of its color, season, or attraction.