From "India Against Corruption" to "Individuals Against Congress"

Cheers to team Anna to have pulled one of the biggest practical jokes of the world. No, literally. The joke was tried on more than one billion people. Millions got directly involved, either in person or on social media. No other revolution had seen such participation in every continent on earth as did India against corruption. Anna Hazare was the messiah. Road rallies, radio, Facebook, twitter, I-Am-Anna branded T-shirts and what not. There were 10 million hits on Facebook alone and Anna Hazare was almost the Time Person of the Year 2011. Alas, the Arab spring protesters won the grand finale at the very last moment.
                       The movement started in March 2011 and let me quote the very words of Anna"The government has not seen what people power is. It is more powerful than Parliament" It was wise by the way they had chosen the name of the movement because as Congress party said " Anna had a hidden agenda". I guess that was the name ! Because now IAC can be used as Individuals-Against-Congress party and target 2014 general elections. Jokes apart, Now, here is the funny part which non-political public haven't realized yet. It was "India" who was against corruption but when this becomes IAC party, there will be no India in it. Meaning, if you are thinking that your role as a protester will help you chose a representative in parliament, better stop day dreaming. Here on, You (protester) have no more role. You will be invited to cast your vote sometimes in 2014. 
                        Wait a minute, that reminds me of something. YOU have been doing this since 1947. Mr Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi mentored the congress party to take care of India after the so called Brits ruined the legacy and fortune of the greatest nation of the world. Look what happened: half a century later, trillions of dollars are stacked in secret locations around the world even beyond the reach of Mr. Bond. Congress was an alternate to the cruel British Raj and now IAC needs to be created as an alternate to Congress. For around 100 years it was the people, who came participated, got hit, sacrificed their lives. Once the rulers went away, few hundred people controlled by a few individual leaders ruled the nation. Those YOU "people" came to vote and watched helplessly how these handful of leaders exploited them for next 50 years. So old formula, like in Bollywood. But amazing part - It Works !! 
                         Now, Anna ji, just for your information you are not the first one. Your team needs to know that a similar party was formed to transform India and take the rule back to the educated and non-corrupt masses. It was named Lok Paritran. Paritrana meaning "To bring relief from the cause of distress" in Sanskrit,The party was formed in February 2006 by a group of six graduates from IIT Bombay and IIT Kanpur. This party contested in 2006 Tamil Nadu elections in 7 constituencies, but failed to pull crowd. It was reported that the party was split. One faction formed another party called Bharat Punarnirman Dal. Then came Baba Ramdev's Bharat Swabhiman Andolan. Same formula, different name.
                             60 years later, same story will be repeated. My condolences go to the families who lost their near and dear ones for India's independence in 1947. So does my condolences go to the emotionally shattered and confused volunteers of India Against corruption and general Indian public. Gear up for 2014 and make sure you come and vote like our fore fathers did. 

The Ultimate Power

(The origin and End of life)

Ever wondered how flawless initiation and culmination of any event is, needless to mention- Life?

              When a woman gets pregnant, in her womb germinates a new life. A life in a sac which had no sign of life before! A regular body doing its daily metabolic activities suddenly becomes the generator of a new life. Every new life has a soul or aatmaa, at least all religions believe so. Now the question arises where did this life come from? Answer to this question is not a mystery. Medical world can provide explicit details. But we have to agree that from ‘nothing’ a life full of energy and sustenance emerges. The new body will come to the world and maintain its lifecycle for years to come. The body will take energy, give energy and will create a presence in this world.

                Having said that, what ignites a thought in my mind is this – Was there an energy which existed in the womb to germinate a life? I believe yes. And since we know that the super power or the ultimate energy is still a mystery for non-believers and a matter of realization for great saints and gurus , it definitely exists. I realized this recently.  And I want to validate my belief.

               God as we know is the ultimate power with no limits and no definition. I believe every Sadhak seeks for the final answer and wants to realize the ultimate definition till the very end. But what they have found in this path of realization is that the Ultimate Energy is FLAWLESS. That intrigued me to think, is that flawless energy present in the womb of every woman which generates a new life? I believe yes and because of one characteristic – It being flawless. The conception or fertilization generates a flawless life, in six weeks you can feel the heart beat of a new life and the body takes shape.

               As the body takes shape and organs develop, the life although generated from the ultimate energy, starts to indulge and divulge into the world around it. Starting here on, the body starts getting flaws, one after the other, the life gets vulnerable to factors around it. Starts with physical complicacies and then as soon as it steps into the world, it is on its own. Here, the mental and psychological complicacies creep in. And the struggle of the life starts, struggle to survive and keep up with the challenges of the world. Some bodies successfully survive these, some do not. Some get physically challenged, some mentally but most of them survive, in their own ways. Maybe, because the energy is still there. And interestingly, as the life progresses towards the culmination, it loses all the flaws, sheds all the pain and gain it had accumulated in its journey, it suffers in order to get rid of the flaws and finally merges into its own origin. It becomes one with the Ultimate power ( I say Shree Sai, Lord Jagannath, Maa Durga – All different forms of the same Energy). And there are no sufferings what so ever as it merges in the same. From zero to zero or may be from God to God, a life is a mere role in this world that we play– so why waste it? Why not find your purpose and play your role? Why not make a difference?

I love Baba. I am from him. I will end in him.

Jai Shree Sai

Happy Indi-Pain-Dance Day

I wish all my fellow Indians happy Indi-pain-dance day. Sounds weird isn't it? How can I be so sarcastic on a day that we have celebrated for over 60 years with enthusiasm and pomp? The sound of the national anthem and the hoisting of the tricolor always brought goose bumps for all these years. Not any more. I dont feel it. May be we forgot what independence means or may be the whole concept of independence on the 15th of August, 1947 was not meant to be in the first place.

My heart aches as I write this and its been hurting since I gained conciousness and have been trying to figure out why we celebrate this day. We should have gained independence from the British raj by waving a war. The PAIN caused by the shameless DANCE of corruption that mother INDIA is going through, I have felt that for years now. Gandhiji's non-violence method did pave the way for our independence but sadly enough we lost the zeal and fighting spirit of the Aryan's whose blood still run in our veins. Bapu would surely be ashamed of us all and specially of the clan he lent his surname to. He would have never realized that one day we would drag the nation to the morgue, killing it a little every day for over half a century.

I don't want to and don't have to mention the instances of how corruption has become a part of our lives like daily meals. We eat it every day and reason it with a energetic word called survival. Yes we survive, we forgot how to live and in the process have killed the values and ethics that built this civilization thousands of years ago. I don't want to mention how corruption and bribery and siphoning of public money is happening in front of our eyes every day. We know the names and how it is done, media can't help. Even if they do, the bad guys are not scared any more, people like me have given up and how many of us would go to the court to fight a public litigation, charge-sheet the corrupt and how many courts and judges would be needed to bring the demons to justice? As I browsed through the news everyday for the last ten years or more, only thing I have realized is that corporations and political leaders are getting unaffected by anything around them. We are a tolerant nation - we do our job well.

Joseph Marie de Maistre, a 18th century french philosopher said "Every country has the government it deserves". I can't agree more to this statement. Yes we deserve the corruption that is affecting our lives today. And the reason is because we are corrupt and we hardly try to lead our lives in a righteous path. We do whatever is convenient for us and profitable to us. How may of us have said NO while paying bribe at the local driver licenses office? how many of us said NO to copying in exams? how many of us have said NO to easy money that comes through any profession? how many of us are doing or at least trying to bring in a difference to the lives of the under privileged? The list is endless. Have we ever tried to think beyond are needs and satisfactions? Answer would be bleak to none.

Then why complain? Why are we complaining that political leaders are corrupt? Are you right in your own small world? Are you doing things or at least trying to make things right at home, loving your family and friends? Are you doing your job properly ? Are you sympathetic to your countrymen? Do you care for the the injured person laying unattended in an accident scene? If the answer is NO, then do not blame any government, do not take out rallies against the system. Rectify yourself. Change the way you live and think. Become less selfish and think beyond your small little world. Remove yourself from the shackles of bondage and you will realize the true meaning of Independence.

And for the day when India will be Independent, I will wait and strive for it every day. Will you join me?

Journey of a Soul

Of millions of cars in the street across the world, GPS has changed the way people reach their destinations. In the early age human beings had a limited mobility in terms of the land they could reach. With the evolution of the species and its interaction with the nature's creations, man started conquering lands then water and air. Technological advances raised mankind to new heights when we floated in the space and landed on the moon.

On the earth evolved a more sophisticated species from a mere four limb crawler to a man who created cars and rockets. Roads were built and man started exploring new lands. Every man, woman and child realizes the joy within when he or she steps on a new place on earth, may be a few hundred miles from where he or she was born or across continents in a new country. When one watches the sun rise from a shore of the sea in an unknown land, the ecstasy and the joy within surpasses all adventures and achievements. As the man feels the warmth of the rising sun, he slowly closes his eyes to absorb the energy and that brings smile to his face. Even when he knows it is the same sun he has always opened his eyes to. It's a indefinite joy and cannot be defined in words. It's personal and intimate and can only be felt.

On his journey of never ending conquest and search for the knowledge, man created roads and highways, ocean routes, air traffic routes and even a definite route to the moon and beyond. Man started travelling in seek of something unknown, something new. And suddenly he realized the importance of guidance. Guidance for the traveler, information of the route undertaken and definition of the destination. Our ancestors created landmarks and monuments, rigorously drafted maps and learned to read the stars for not getting lost. The twenty first century man created the GPS, the global positioning system. Twenty four earth orbiting satellites powered by the energy of the sun send signals to the earth for man to navigate. The GPS unit in the car and in hand receives the signals and guide us to our destinations.

If we divert from the route shown by the GPS, it guides us back to the original route, at least it tries. If the driver is adamant to take a different route, GPS always re aligns by recalculating the driver's location as how to reach the destination. Eventually he reaches his destination. The driver has the option to set up the navigation options in his GPS. He can choose the shortest route, fastest route, whether to avoid toll roads or take a particular scenic route. And man follows the GPS because he believes in his choices, he believes in the options he set for himself. But man knows he has to reach his destination , destination that he chose. And he does.

The world is governed and run by the supreme power in a fashion similar to Satellite and the Driver. Replace Sun with the ultimate power, Satellite with God we believe in, Signals with the spiritual energy, GPS with the Guru, Options with the methods of belief, GPS instructions with the faith and rules, driver with the soul, car with the life, highways with the path to salvation, new lands with the realm of self realization and happiness, and destination with the Supreme God.

Some drivers choose not to use a Guru or GPS. Sometimes they use their instinct, sometimes knowledge and sometimes maps. Some of them make it to the destination some of them don't. Some people choose to get a Guru. Their journey of life becomes easy and they reach the destination. That also calls for constant education for the disciple and the Guru, in other words maps and software upgrade for the GPS and education for driver. That ensures the driver reaches destination or in other words soul reaches to the Master.

PS: Guruji CB Satpathy in his book "Shirdi Sai Baba and other perfect masters" wrote a chapter 'The divine journey of the soul' written between 1991-95 and later published in the book. I came across this book towards the end of 2013