jabdakhata

What is the definition of "Ego"? Anything to deal with "me" and "myself"? What is egoism and what is egotism? Are they good or bad? "I am a great leader, I am highly placed, I have influences, I have money, muscle power, I have education, I have a good job, I earn a lot, I can teach you a lesson, how dare you crossed my path!" - these are all statements of egoism, which Sri Ramakrishna used to call "bajjat Ami", meaning the "Evil Self", or "Kancha Ami" meaning "the unripe self". On the other hand he classified "Bhakta Ami", 'Das Ami" (Devotee Me, Servant (of lord) me) etc. as the "Paka Ami" or the 'Ripe Self'. He gave an example of 'Evil Self' (vide Gospels of Sri Ramakrishna or the Ramakrishna Kathamrita) - suppose someone had stolen 10 bucks from you, you thought how dare he steals from "Me", and getting hold of that guy, gave him a good thrashing, to

While life itself is an endless voyage towards eternity, travel dreams are there probably to remind us that we are all fellow travellers in this great journey. The Shantiparva in Mahabharata speaks of the vast ocean of life 'Sansararanava' where people float around haplessly like pieces of wood, clinging to each other for a brief period and then once again separated. All unions and separations are but fleeting moments, transient and transitory. Therefore all longings are futile, as we are born to be separated and float alone, towards the great refuge. Travel dreams are therefore repeated attempts of our mind to remind us of the stark reality. The inner cconsciousness of which we are unconscious during our wakeful hours tells us that this sensory world which we perceive as real is as elusive as the dream itself. We are out on a long journey, in which we sometimes get lost, sometimes long to return to our near and dear ones but find it difficult, sometimes we simply want to esca

The mirror within us so so covered with dirt and grime that only repeated and hard polishing can bring about a true reflection of ourselves within us. This mirror enables us to rediscover ourselves, our hidden potential and talent, instill confidence and ensure that the potential is translated into a great energy and enthusiasm towards life and work. The mirror helps us in developing dispassion, detachment and devotion. It also helps us to cultivate renunciation of material pleasures and senseless sensual fulfilment and appreciate the wealth of simplicity and harmony that the nature has bestowed upon us. Our goal in this life is to find the mirror and polish it till it shines and shows us our true nature.

I know that any blog on sensitive issues is dangerous. It might result in losing friends and alienating people. However it is time to be a little bold. There have been many views on the Ayodhya judgment. Most heaved a sigh of relief calling it a balanced judgment. Hindus are predictably happy as they stand vindicated. Muslims are not happy, they feel further alienated in a Hindu dominated society. Many Muslim intellectuals decried the judgment calling it biased and unfair. Many Hindu intellectuals have done the same (i.e. calling the judgment biased and unfair and decrying it, esp. the acceptance of Ram's legitimacy). I have no opinion on the judgment or on the core issue. It is pointless to assume as all the intellectuals seem to assume that Hindus and Muslims can be bhai bhais, that there is no problem between them. On the other hand it is prudent to accept that the relationship is mired with problems for the past thousand years, and then try to see what can be done to address t

After Nandigram comes Lalgarh. Every day the bhadralok CM of West Bengal is getting unmasked and what is coming out is sending a shudder down the spine.When the villagers of Netaigram in lalgarh area had assembled outside a house to protest against armed camps of CPM cadres residing inside, there were several rounds of firing on them and many of them got killed on the spot. The below photos are taken courtesy a local Bengali daily. When recently the home minster sent a letter to the CM, asking about presence of armed camps in Lalgarh, instead of acknowleding the problem the CM haughtily responded to it, as if leaders of the left parties are not accountable to any one, not definitely to the consitution. More lies and propaganda were spread often through the friends in the media, of alleged nexus between opposition and Maoists. When that story was not bought a new line of attack was conceived - terrorize them to teach them a lesson, the same tactics which they have adopted successfull

The muscle power of political parties in India is known. Their obnoxious representatives hijack any thin effort towards Governance. Vile and corrupt, most of these politicians thrive on money, muscles and corruption. Their proximity to big and corrupt business houses is known. In the matters of corruption most of the political parties including the two major ones are birds of same feather that flock together. In matters of expressing their power and in moral matters they are not very apart. Not very far behind are the parties who claim themselves to be representatives of the poor. It is in interest of every political party that muscle power, money power and the cycle of massive corruption continues because then they will be able to look into their own selfish interests. It is only the amount of the loot with which they have disputes. The one who gets into power gets a major share and therefore everybody fights an election - to have power and more power. The recent killing of a politici