It was not easy. Firstly, my earlier Wordpess was installed in 2004. For god’s sake!! I ran it on a version so old, that it took me four hours of careful reading on various forums, taking multiple backups in various formats, and a lot of coffee to get it working on 3.0.1.

Then, the theme. Impossible to choose – at least without the help of womanly whims. Somehow chose this new theme, little bit of Gimp work, some PHP tweaking and the thing was up.

Then I realized, that I now live in 2010. The world has changed a lot since 2004. There was no social bookmarking then, there was no twitter and no Facebook… Oh My God!! NO FACEBOOK!! So I got the right plugins to help people socialize from here.

All in all it took me a day with some break…. and here we are. Welcome back

BTW, any suggestions?

शाम-ए-गम की कसम, आज गमगीं हैं हम,
आ भी जा आभी जा आज मेरे सनम।
शाम-ए-गम की कसम…

दिल परेशान है, रात वीरान है,
देख जा किस तरह आज तनहा हैं हम।
शाम-ए-गम की कसम…

चैन कैसा जो पहलू मे तू ही नही,
मार डाले ना दर्द-ए-जुदाई कहीं।
ऋत हसीं है तो क्या, चांदनी है तो क्या,
चांदनी ज़ुल्म है और जुदाई सितम।
शाम-ए-गम की कसम…

अब तो आजा कि अब रात भी सो गई,
ज़िन्दग़ी गम के सहरा मे खो गई,
धुंढ़ती है नज़र, तू कहाँ है मगर,
देखते देखते आया आँखों मे दम।
शाम-ए-गम की कसम…

And you can listen to the song here:  http://www.phulki.com/p/song/hindi/dilip+kumar+hitz+-+i/shame+gham+ki+kasam/SQMOQSsJAF4

And as many of you might know, I believe the world is subjective.

Perhaps, that’s why all great books and great people use pronouns for expressing deep things. Michale Jackson: “They don’t really care about us”. Mahadevi verma: “जो तुम आ जाते एक बार”. Jim Morrison: “What are they doing in the hyacinth house”. Richard Bach: “Was it really worth it?”. RigVeda: “Not even nothing existed then”.

“They”, “तुम”, “it”, “then” are all pronouns. The object they intend to qualify is not specified. Perhaps deliberately so. And still, these are probably the most clear poetic expressions ever. The clarity of comprehension is actually not subject to the verbosity of the truth. In fact, the pronouns make the truth stand out. As if, vindicating the claim of truthfulness, by the arrogant declaration that they don’t have to say it …

…  perhaps reminding us that it all started with the mind, and objectivity barely a creation of the mind.

So you would ask, what the event is? No no no no… it’s not frivolous enough to be made public. The only thing I can say, is that an era has ended, and a new one is taking shape. As, Daagh Dehalvi, would have said it:

गर्म चश्मा है पत्थर के शिगाफ़ों से उबलने को,
ज़माना किस कदर बेताब है करवट बदलने को।

Until next time, stay tuned!

So they ask, why do you climb a mountain? because the mountain is there. So why do you eat food? because there are so many wonderful things to eat. So why do you write? because there are thoughts that try hard enough to be heard. So why do you work? because there are unfinished jobs.

Any other answers, such as – “we climb to make a world record”, or “we eat to nourish our bodies”, or “we write because that might make us famous”, or ” we work to make money” … are lame answers. Okay, wait – this is not one of those blog posts meant to make the point that one should work for oneself and not others. And to prove it, I say – equally lame are the answers such as “we climb because we have strong urge to reach the top”, or “we eat because we are hungry”, or “we write to express ourselves”, or “we work because we love working”.

On such sleepless nights, the philosopher in me wakes up – the one that loves to inquire, because he wonders, not because he doubts. And asks simple and beautiful questions, like this one – why do we act? And after deep thought all answers that it gets finally amount to “for the heck of it”, “for the bloody heck of it”.

No purpose, however lofty, is justification enough – eventually. The more deep I go in thought, in action, in emotion – the more hollow the purposes seem. Purpose is a funny word. Sometimes, it means the “urge before we act” … and sometimes its “the result we hope to achieve after we act”. The assumption that these two are same or linked – is dangerously insane. Sanity, for that matter, does not rest on this insane assumption – though it is made to believe by our schools.

To those who have read him, I might sound like Roberto Calasso, no wonders. His book Ka has been quite an influence.

So this assumption, that our urge to start an action is somehow linked to the results of the action, is what the Buddha called “the concept of causation” … a sort of cognitive association we form between two events separated in time – the earlier one being assumed to be the “cause” of the other. This concept, according to Buddha, is a myth. I don’t completely agree with him. Not because I think he was wrong, but because knowing it, really doesn’t help. And in Calasso style – I ask the Buddha: “what does it mean to help?” … and he replies: “again, ‘to help’ is a concept that presupposes cause. In other words, why do you think – things should help?” … I actually didn’t get his question at first, I thought for a while before I inquired again – “no I don’t think all things should help. But then, I shouldn’t care about those things which don’t help – right?” … Buddha as usual smiled, and said “you think you can control what you care about” … and then I smiled too. What I saw in the moment was the fact that I care about things which are not necessarily consequential (consequence is an opposite of cause) … and many times I don’t care about things which are consequential … similarly I many times have “passionate urges for things” which I don’t care about… and many times I’m dispassionate about things I care about….  basically I realized that “caring for something or someone” is more fundamental, more profound, more important, more desirable, more right … than “expecting a consequence” or “pursuing an urge” … I felt nice!

“To care for”, is what the Buddha called Karuna .. and it does not have a “why?” to it … it happens for the heck of it.

For those, who are wondering how I happen to talk to a person who lived 2,600 years ago, I’ve just this to say – that, according to me, is the most inconsequential question to ask.

सेस, महेस, गनेस, दिनेस, सुरेसहुँ जाँही निरंतर गावें,
जाँही अनादी, अनन्त, अखण्ड, अछेद, अभेद, सुवेद बतावें,
नारद से शुक व्यास रटें, पचि हारे तऊ पुनि पार न पावें,
ताही अहीर की छोहरिया, छछिया भर छाँछ पे नाच नचावें।

… whom all the mighty beings: the Shesha (the celestial remainder mighty snake), Mahesh (the almighty Shiva), Ganesha, Dinesha (the sun god), and Suresha (the king of god’s Indra) eternally praise,
… who has always been described as the one without begining or end, who is complete in itself, is impenetrable, itself is the undifferentiated reality, and obviously is the omniscient,
… from Narada to Shuka Muni to Vyaas are tired of chanting whose name, and still could not understand him completely,
… he himself dances to the tune of a bunch of cowherd girls, just for a pot of buttermilk.

Besides, I love the god who sets nice precedents like stealing clothes of girls bathing in a river.

Harih Om!

Rejection, it seems, is the spark needed to ignite that fire in the belly. Sarasvati’s eluding of Brahma’s sexual advances is what creates the fire in Brahma that made him create. Sarasvati is the primordial goddess… it manifests as the world when Brahma manifests as me, it manifests as the muse when Brahma manifests as the poet, it manifests as the wealth when Brahma manifests as the entrepreneur. And she always rejects him first … that creates the fire … the fire that creates … the primordial fire Agni that threatened to swallow Brahma himself (according to Rig Veda).

Okay too much serious talk, here’s one humorous expressoin of that poet’s fire, when recognition eludes him. It’s a song from V Shantaram‘s legendary film Navrang:
 http://www.phulki.com/p/song/hindi/navrang/kavi+raja+kavita+ke/Mw08fExmUkk

http://www.raaga.com/play/?id=107119

कवि राजा कविता के ना अब कान मरोड़ो
धंधे की कुछ बात करो, कुछ पैसे जोड़ो।

शेर-शायरी कवि राजा ना काम आएगी,
कविता की पोथी को दीमक खा जाएगी।
भाव चढ़ रहे, अनाज हो रहा महंगा दिन-दिन,
भूख मरोगे, रात कटेगी तारे गिन-गिन।
इसीलिए कहता हूँ भैय्या यह सब छोडो,
धंधे की कुछ बात करो, कुछ पैसे जोड़ो।

अरे! छोड़ो कलम, चलाओ मत कविता की चाकी।
घर की रोकड देखो, कितने पैसे बाकी।
अरे! कितना घर में घी है, कितना गरम मसाला,
कितने पापड, बडी, मंगोडी, मिर्च-मसाला,
कितना तेल, नोन िमर्ची, हल्दी और धनिया।
कवि राजा चुपके से तुम बन जाओ बनिया।

अरे! पैसे पर रच काव्य, भूख पर गीत बनाओ।
अरे! गेहूं पर हो गज़ल, धान के शेर सुनाओ।
नोन मिर्च पर चौपाई, चावल पर दोहे।
सुकवि कोयले पर कविता लिखो तो सोहे।
कम भाडे की खोली पर लिखो कव्वाली,
झन-झन करती कहो रुबाई पैसे वाली।

शब्दों का जंजाल बडा लफ़डा होता है।
कवि-सम्मेलन दोस्त बडा झगडा होता है।
मुशायरे के शेरों पर रगडा होता है।
पैसे वाला शेर बडा तगडा होता है।
इसीलिए कहता हूँ न इससे सिर फोडो,
धंधे की कुछ बात करो कुछ पैसे जोड़ो।

गुरु बोले – “जा खोज के आ
कि फूल है क्या?”
इक फूल दिखा,
मै मुस्काया।
उसके सौरभ को,
प्राणों मे भर लाया।
मन सुख मे नत हो आया,
तब मैनें जाना – फूल है क्या।

जब लौटा, तो गुरु ने पूछा -
“बता शिष्य कि फूल है क्या?”

मन ने सुन्दर आकार लिया,
पर शब्द रुके मुख तक आकर।
क्या पीत-श्वेत-लोहित मरमर,
यह कह देंगे जो मुझे दिखा?
कैसे समझाऊँ सौरभ को
जिसने प्राणों मे रस घोला?

शब्द खेलते आँख मिचौली,
बुद्धी धूंडती शब्दों को।
कभी तीव्रता से जा पकडे,
पर पाए फ़िका उनको।
कभी ऊंघते शब्द स्वयं ही,
आ जाते सम्मुख मेरे।
पर उत्तर फिर भी दे न सका
आखें औ’ सिर नत मेरे।

गुरु मुस्काए।
मुझको देखा।
कुछ कहा नहीं,
और चले गए।

मैने माना कि विफल बुद्धी।
शब्दों के होते मुक्त प्राण।
बंधन मे उनको बांधोगे,
तो भागेंगे वे बचा प्राण।
मान बुद्धी को विफल अगर,
उस फूल मे मन को रम लोगे,
तो शब्द तितलियों से आकर,
खुद ही मन पर मंडराएँगे।
बिन लगाम के बुद्धी की,
तब गीत कण्ठ गाए मेरा।
जो जिह्वा से उस पल निकला,
वह सहज बनी मेरी कविता।

मैं बहुत खुशी से लहराया -
“कह दिया है मैने फूल है क्या।”
पर दो पल रुक कर सोचो तो,
क्या मैं हूँ कवि इस कविता का?

I know what the Indian philosophy/yoga types reading this stuff are thinking. They are imagining the descendants of Ekta Kapoor, three hundred years from now, making a television serial on me, the saint who stopped thinking – thoughtlessanand baba (the pun is, of course, intended), in which the last episode shows my soul, portrayed as thin yellow glowing gelatin-like ellipse, merging with another much larger yellow glowing gelatin-like ellipse, obviously representing the God’s soul – paramatma. (Disclaimer: ellipses could easily be ellipsoids, depending on the advancements in television technology of the time) But nothing like that has happened – I have no gelatin around me right now, and the last ellipse I saw was Yuvraj Singh’s wagon wheel, digitally representing the Kingston stadium, where India defeated West Indies. Now that you have pained your mind enough deciphering the large comma-studded sentences above, I’m sure some of you might like to stop thinking. And in somewhat similar fashion I stopped thinking. Sorry to disappoint the glowing-gelatin-ellipse-lovers.

Oh! and I don’t love Ekta Kapoor. I’m thought-less, not mad.

However, the thoughtlessanand baba has economic value. I am sure friends, families, parents of some of you seek or have sought some sort of spiritual support from some sort of spiritual beings. The world needs babas. From management to spirituality you need the babas. And like in spirituality, so in managment, the less the baba thinks the better he/she is. So the world surely needs a thoughtlessanand baba. And for you, I am sure you would be more comfortable with your friends, families, or parents seeking support from a modern baba like me, than the traditional saffron clad ones. See I sold it to you as well. I know you are thinking where does the “economic” part come from. Well the thoughtlessanand baba, like all other babas, wont charge a fee. He’d only help grow the pie. With less thought there is more pie. Now let the Peter Drucker‘s of the world explain that to you. And if you dont like the jargon-filled books, and still need to get the “less thought, more pie” funda – watch the waitress, the movie I mean.

For those who still doubts the truthfulness of this post, I am sure this post itslef must convince you that I have stopped thinking

PS: I did consider “Surrealanand Baba” as the branding, but that’s a bit too much disoriented for people seeking spiritual help. Being inconsiderate is something they are anyways expecting.

From the movie Howrah Bridge, with Ashok kumar and the lovely Madhubala. Look at Madhubala’s expressions, and tell me who else can do that anymore

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLNZEwwGO9Y

This is a rare video of the song being recorded by O P Nayar, with Asha Bhosale and Mohammad Rahi:

And, this is one of my favorite non-rock retro songs from the west. Again, innocent, sweet and happy.

I sometimes miss the Wednesday and Friday 8:00 pm chitrahar