Probability of Being

It is the presence and the perfect balance of five elements namely, earth, water, fire, ether and air that has given birth to the environment that supports life on Earth. Every matter, living or dead present in this ecosystem is made of these five elements. As such our bodies are also made of these five elements. As I mentioned earlier, ‘with the knowledge of microcosm- macrocosm can be known’ or, 'all that is outside of us is also inside of us'- Y at pinde... tat brahmande ’. And if we consider it a hypothesis, it can be said that all the problems that we have outside in the world are the manifestation of the problems that we have inside of us. The real-time disasters like contamination of land, water, air, and ether are the perfect examples of this notion. ” It is because we are contaminated inside, that our environment is contaminated”.  Contamination of the environment is a human act while the sacredness of the elements remains intact. The sacred elements that

Given to the god of death- Yama by his own father in a fit of anger, child Nachiketa sat at the doors of the god of death for three days without food or water. When Yama found Nachiketa at his door, pleased by his sincerity, Yama granted him three boons. For the third boon, Young Nachiketa desired the knowledge of what happens to a being after death- for the wait and the disillusionment after the whole incident left him wanting to know the truth. Even after Yama insisted that he cannot reveal the sacred knowledge and that Nachiketa can ask for anything else in the world, he had to surrender before the determination of the child. image courtesy Kala Kshetram The boon was indeed granted by Yama and child Nachiketa became an eternal symbol of determination and seeking. The quest for self- realization and self- knowledge is ancient. Came many seekers in search of knowledge and prophets to quench the thirst for knowledge and still we find the dialogue lost in interpretation. For

You can sing deepest songs of your heart with them, and they are always the best companions when you want to stay a little bit more into the state of wonderment.    Children are my favorite people on the planet. They are more planetary than worldly and that reminds me that the child state is the best state of being. If we observe small children closely, we will find that a child always narrates in the third person. Like, they will take their name and say about themselves that this boy/girl has done this…he/she was going there...and that shows a natural state of witness of the being. A witness state is a state where one witness everything- every happening as a divine play without getting involved. A state that many yogis wish to achieve through practice and meditation. Probably this is the reason why a small child is always bubbling with laughter and is full of energy…full of joy.

If art is about self- expression, then the expression of ‘self’ is the dharma of an artist. To express without limiting oneself with the medium of expression is a natural process an artist is bound to follow, especially if one can connect with various mediums. For a long time, I have convinced myself that it’s the visual that is my language and not the words, obvious reason being too laid back to work on my writing skills. But sometimes artists need to speak and express themselves verbally, for there is a chance that the dialogue might be lost in interpretation. However, I do not like to call myself an artist yet as I have a long way to go to achieve that complete manifestation of ‘self’ through art. Many times, I wonder if we humans really know the meaning of “self”? and where comes the expression of this entity (self) that is still unknown to many of the individuals? Probably much of the expression is the expression of mind, persona or the intellect which is misidentified as

In search of the answer of the very basic question of existence, "who I am?" and in order to reach our 'crude' self... we must uncover various layers that clouds the human consciousness  and are accumulated over the years due to constant exposure to man- made conditionings and understanding of the world that is up to a larger extent ego oriented and self- centred.  To explore the answer of this question, "who am I?" I propose to experiment and use some information that is available through ancient knowledge and decide on some of the steps that we want to take. For example, it is said by many philosophers like Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato and also mentioned in ancient Indian 'Vedas' that through the study of microcosm, macrocosm can be known... 'yat pinde- tat brahmande' - the unit and the cosmos. A seeker can however think/meditate deeper on this question and try to find the answer of “who am I?”. For example, a recent interaction wi

“Probably we were seeds scattered in space and we were fortunate enough to have found a fertile land where we can spread our roots and enjoy our existence". I want to recall the famous speech by Carl Sagan in 1994 about the image of the earth that he called as “the pale blue dot”...the simple reason behind this share is to remind to not only preserve but celebrate all the beautiful things in life the most important of them all is our existence on the Planet. The Pale Blue Dot This image of Earth is one of 60 frames taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft on February 14, 1990 from a distance of more than 6 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic plane. In the image the Earth is a mere point of light, a crescent only 0.12 pixel in size. Our planet was caught in the center of one of the scattered light rays resulting from taking the image so close to the Sun. This image is part of Voyager 1's final photographic assignment which capture

“Out beyond the ideas of right doing and wrong- doing, there’s a field…I’ll meet you there.” -         Rumi This popular quote of Rumi makes me think about this ‘field’. If I search for a person in the world who is already experiencing this “field” I would possibly pick up an infant or a toddler. A child- a very small child can possibly be an inhabitant of this area where one does not have any worldly ideas about right and wrong and probably that is why it is said in spiritual wisdom that a child is a reflection of God. A child remains in a state of wonderment and displays fearlessness and confidence in himself as well as others. One can say that the worldly ideas of right and wrong are still beyond his understanding and he is pure form of innocence. This innocence might be the answer to many questions human civilization is facing in these times. But the question remains the same, how can one achieve this state of purity after one is grown up enough and has been captivated/

I t was a day in the beginning of summer of the year 2001. Yellow bloom on the Tabebuia trees could be seen everywhere. My friend wakes me up at 5 am to join her for morning walk. Our favorite place for walk was an earthen dam nearby. The morning sky, the pleasant breeze the freshness and all of a sudden, I see the yellow bloom and my gaze is stuck on them…I remain in wonderment for a few moments and I spoke to myself-“I want to be an artist...”. A year before I had finished my degree in engineering and now, I was preparing for my competitive exams...it all was so clear and I was so sure about what I wanted to do in my life that this momentary desire was gone as fast as it came after it paused for a few moments in my heart. Now I have my own reasons to believe that I am a blessed soul, being a pedestrian on the path of self -expression with visual art as a medium is one of them. Defeating all the occupation that material illusions had offered, I am being chosen to fulfi

What is ‘that’? ‘That’ is everything that we identify with. And this self -identification is a journey towards self- exploration and self- realization. ‘That’ is a state of being…’ That’ is everchanging… While walking a path...a walker/traveler- ‘padachari’ While speaking…a speaker- ‘wakta’ While listening…a listener- ‘shrota’ This changing state is not even a state of mind but, a state of being….being in that state…be it momentary or lasting. I is the being or his identifications depending on the state of consciousness. ‘That’ is an attire of ‘I’ This identification with the attire is the source of all the conflict/confusion that goes on in the mind…whereas the ’I’ still remains unapproachable- unidentified...