The nest

In the hanging pot of moneyplant
A bulbul has made a nest
Till yesterday she was knocking
On the window of the room where I rest

Fighting with its own image
On the mirror like glass
Or trying to catch the partner
Who was so elusive, alas!

Apparently she has found him
And their love has held sway
Flying and playing and loving on trees
She is now on family way!

And now she has to build a nest
In safest and shaded place around
The hanging pot with money plant
Was the best site she has found

But now I am  in a big dilemma
As I go to water the pot
Let nest and eggs go wet
Or  see  my lovely plant rot


I found the answer in gentle rain
Which fell on the pot yesterday
The plant got water and nest was safe
My despondance washed  away

The light behind I

Who is the seer who does the seeing
Who is listener of all the sounds
Who is the voice behind the words
Spoken by everyone around

Who is the thinker thinking the thoughts
Who is the actor behind the actions
Oh,  to  grasp the fleeting presence
Of perciever and mover of every  motion

When the gaze is turned from out to in
The body becomes an instrument of expression
Of the luminous and  divine  presence
Taking different forms in succession

Expressed as 'I' in my body
By the gross and physical bound.
The moment the illusion of 'I' is shed
Truth, consciousness and bliss is found

Senses

 Senses

Bright winter sunshine
Sitting in the garden
A bee buZzing lazily
Full of nectar from the flowers

Pigeon on the clothes line
Interrupted in the middle of a gurgle
By loud roar of a motorbike
Left left left left
Commands of the parade sergeant
Practicing for the republic day
My eyelids becoming heavier
Droop in a reverie
A bright red glowing curtain
Falls before my eyes
The light
Illuminating my mind
Or is the luminous curtain
my mind ?
On which these thoughts
Are playing like a movie
Dried leaves
Rustling in the gentle breeze
Loud racuous music
Being blared
From some random loudspeakers
Disturbing the chain of thought
Bulbul to the rescue

Sharp scent of chameli
Wafting on the tendril of a breeze
A pesky fly sitting on the face
The weight of its limbs magnified on skin
Lingering taste of the biscuit
Eaten sometime back
The scarlet screen
Fluttering with the flow of thoughts
But who is watching this screen?

 A question once arose in the mind

How would you like to be known?
After you have lived your life and
From this world you are gone

By  your wordly achievements?
Amount of money you made?
Or how many people you helped?
How many lives better, you made

Buildings you constructed
Or institutions you created?
Achievements of your children
Or alms you distributed!

By the vehicles you drove
Or the countries you visited?
Books you read or wrote
Or the knowledge accumulated!


Professional excellence
Or academic achievements
Responsibilities discharged
Fulfilled religious commitments?

Having furthered the endless
Cycles of births and deaths
What possession or ambition
You most desired on this earth?

The pride in achievements
Or how you would be known
How will it matter to you
The moment you are gone?

To be freed of  fetters
Of body and mind
To be totally free of desire
If the God be so kind!


To know oneself as indestructible
Eternal immortal  unborn undivided
Unbound to body, untouched by desire
Blissful awareness and truth  unveiled

पंच तत्व , Understanding panch mahabhutas

According to Hindu thought the whole world is composed of 5 elements , also known as panch mahabhut. They are Akash, Vayu, Agni , Jal and Prithvi. On the face of it this seems like a very primitive thought . The world seems to be composed of so many elements and the 5 elements as primary constituent does not make any sense. But as one studies the concepts in greater detail the mystery unravels and the beautiful  and absolutely coherent system of thought comes into view.
To understand the mystery of panch mahabhut few things need to be clarified.
In the Indian system of philosophy the process of knowing anything was studied very meticulously. Central to any knowledge is knower and this was always very clearly understood to Indians. In ordinary sense it can be said that the knower is the person. But we went one step further and questioned , what inside a person gains knowledge?
To understand it better consider the human body as an instrument which interacts with the outside world as well as the inside world with the help of senses. 5 external senses i.e sense of sound , touch, sight , taste and smell and one internal instrument i.e mind which percieves the thoughts ,dreams etc . Now when we say that I see something or I smell something what exactly do we mean?
If we take the sense of sight only what happens when the seeing occurs?
At a gross level one can say that light gets reflected from the object and passes through the pupil of eyes on to the retina where the image  of object is formed and this image is transmitted through the optic nerve on to the occipital lobe of brain where optical cortex is located and where somehow the act of seeing occurs . This explains the phenomenon without actually telling how exactly the act of seeing occurs if one ponders on this issue in depth.
Now let us go to a more subtle level. We know that light is a form of energy vibrating at a certain frequency which when interacting with a solid object ,gets reflected in different forms and this causes its frequency to change . Now this light falling on retina causes a electrochemical reaction to occur which gets transmitted as an impulse in the form of electrochemical reaction jumping across synapses until its gets dampened or lost somewhere in the jumble of nerves in brain and the act of seeing occurs.    One can understand the difficulty in this explanation. There are many things which can not be understood . The consciousness part which is the final place where seeing occurs is not in picture so far. Apart from that at a more fundamental level or more subtle level( sukshma  is correct word) the whole universe is a vibrating energy field and every gross or subtle thing is a manifestation of this energy field (occuring because of energy becoming dense and assuming forms) . Human body along with all its senses are also composed of this energy becoming gross.
The sense organs are merely the instruments through which the consciousness interacts with rest of the outer world. The sense organs carrying the information about outer world can interact with the mind ,which is the internal instrument of consciousness , by means of 5 energy interactions only viz. Sound , touch , sight, taste and smell .  So at a subtle level the cosmos reveals itself by only 5 different energy forms  and these are called the panch mahabhuts. And the subtle forms of these mahabhuts through which they are revealed are called 5 tanmatras . So there is Akash getting revealed by Shabd or sound, Vayu by touch,
Agni by sight, Jal by taste and Prithvi by smell. These subtle elements assume the gross counterparts which we normally percieve in the gross world of our existence by a process known as Panchikaran. In this proces the subtle forms intermix in different proportions to assume gross form. The process is described in detail in various texts ( most clearly in Panchadashi , which is considered the seminal text of advaita)
So far we have not considered the senses which percieve as obviously even they are
composed of the five elements. To understand this further we have to go to an even more subtle level. Even panch mahabhuts are not the primary elements. They are different manifestation of the basic tatva or energy form,  which is known as 'prakrati'. This prakrati is inherently trigunatmac, ie it has three attributes, sat , rajas and tamas. Only a small part of this prakati manifests as the gross universe . The sat part of prakrati (which represents knowledge ), taking different mahabhuts forms the senses which percieve the world
So in essence all knowledge in the universe is interaction of energies and the ultimate knower is Purusha or the consciousness or Shiva or Parmatma or by whatever name on can call . In human beings this consciousness projects outward by means of sense organs to interact with outer word to gain knowledge. And since there are only 5 fundamental ways of interacting with outer universe there are only 5 fundamental forms of energy which can be known and these are called the panch mahabhutas.
All of this happens at a very subtle level i.e at a sub microscopic level and we confuse the gross forms of matter with what was actually meant by these terms.
In the state of samadhi a yogi is able to allign his consciousness to the subtle level and perceive the universe as interactions of different forms of energy and the world is seen as it is at the subtle level , composed of panch mahabhutas. 

Bhakti

 To understand Hinduism  or Hindutva better specially bhakti,  one needs to read Adi Shankaracharya

Listen to  Nirvan Shatakam on one hand and Kanak dhara strotram on the other,
both written by him.
One is profoundest exposition of advait philosophy and the other a beautiful hymn of deepest bhakti to Goddess Laxmi.

One can uplift your soul to the level of pure consciousness ,to  truth, awareness and bliss and while reciting the other it is said that Goddess Laxmi  herself appeared before Adi Shankar and a stream of pure Gold started flowing.
One is denial of the whole world as Maya and only consciousness as truth , the other is totally immersed in the world so much so that it may appear materialistic.

His writings are epitome of philosophy and deepest bhakti or what is called para bhakti. The blissful worship of different  devine forms  after having realised the true nature of existence. When one has totally shed the ego ( the sense of I ness) and has merged his consciousness with the supreme.
In this context it will be fruitful to know that there are 4 stages in the spiritual journey of anyone.
First stage is the stage of ritualistic worship where one follows the practices of  their ancestors or books or guru without really knowing the meaning behind such practices. This is more like a forced and indifferent practice, when the mind is elsewhere and the ritual is followed because of fear of divine retribution in whatever form or in anticipation of a reward or fulfillment of a desire. Majority of religious people will fall into this category.
In the second stage, one develops some critical thinking and becomes what is known as ' rational'. In this stage there is total denial of all rituals , calling them superstitious practices of unscientific minds. All old rituals are discarded. Worshipping a deity or going to temple is called regressive idol worship . A song like Kanak dhara strotram will be called workings of a feeble mind. Most of the rest of educated , non religious people will fall in this category.

Then comes the third stage when a person develops some understanding of the nature of consciousness and begins to realize that even the most advanced science starts to flounder when confronted with the problem of consciousness. Then he turns back to philosophy or religious philosophy and discovers that maybe there is some substance in these writings. This is the stage of reading Upanishads and development of some understanding of advaita vedanta. The person will still scoff at rituals of Vedas and bhakti towards a deity. He has not yet understood the nature of ego and is clinging to his sense of I ness. He has not yet gone beyond the mind and reach the light which illuminates  not only his mind but the mind of everything else in this universe . Very few people are able to reach   this stage.

Then comes the fourth and final stage when even this last hurdle is overcome and the true nature of creation and consciousness is realized. A rare person like Adi Shankar is able to see the cosmic dance of Shiva and Shakti in full glory.  And in that state of realization when the rituals are perfomed or the hymns praising a deity is sung then it is the state of para bhakti. The words flow spontaneously  and the deity becomes manifest in whichever form  worshipped.Because all creation is the manifestation of the same divine shakti and the same consciousness or shiva is perceiving it.

This is the stage when the bhakt and deity become one and there is complete submission of ego or sense of individuality.

The beauty of Hinduism or Sanatan is that there is an inherent understanding of this process and there is scope for everyone in whatever stage they are. Moreover it is   understood that everyone is travelling in the same direction and there can be many births before all stages are traversed and one becomes liberated.