Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Synergetic Symbiotic

 

I have written about this way too long, yet it keeps coming back. Seems to be no end to how we are born and meant to exist.

Symbiotic synergy is what we are to pick up on. The human body holds more alien cells than its own. This is what creates the synergy to grow and live. Though we feel that who we are is separate from a fungi or a bacteria or even a virus – truth be told – we are the subconscious collective of all of this hence manifest into existence. We are a combination of various cells from various eras. There is memory from every single cell of existence which ever was here which is in the air waves. This is what makes our conscious and unconscious part of memory and brain activity.

The physical realm of the body as I said is filled to the brim with other forms of life which act in a symbiotic manner to cooperate to exist and indeed grow till life – breathe falters. This is marvellous – almost like a beautiful tree – which exists and lives in one and all moments.

With this grand flavour – Neelam and I went recently to Kodaikanal – albeit during the non monsoon season but still invited by the greenery and cooling nature of the atmosphere to give us weary city dwellers a respite from the incessant heat (of course that be our fault – with all the rampant mountain breaking, tree cutting, ac running and head breaking to make paper money – we have not taken care of what takes care of us in the first place)

Kodaikanal remains a distant memory and a refreshing restart, it has a colonial hangover. The people almost all Tamil folks (from the nearby villages with a deadly hunger to make the quick buck from stupid tourists like us) and the rest few the innocent sholay tribal folk (who are till date a little more innocent thanks to the atmosphere  around and in the mind)

There is synergy abound – when we looked everywhere with the flowers in bloom and the trees in glee. There seemed to be no end to the vast beauty and majesty of nature intertwined with animals and humans. Living in peace and serenity.

We walked towards Vattakanal; which is around 10 km away from the main city. We got a shortcut and made our way through the meandering forest – our first landmark is the now very polluted pambar falls – which is a small waterfall which may once have been extremely beautiful but now with increasing human inhabitation around Vattakanal (which has become a hippie joint of sorts – where some indians and many foreigners land up to consume shrooms and trip in the beautiful scenery year around), the falls has kind of become a waste water collection unit.. The road meanders down in height from kodaikanal’s height – > Vattakanal goes down to Dolphin Nose – which is a view point facing the Panani Hills. (I had visited this place 4 years back and when I went back here – the route to this place was more dismal than I had expected – with the wannabe crooks and who not hippies trying to live in shacks and away from the prying eye of the curious and often annoying indian tourist.

I knew a place close to the starting point of Dolphin nose – this was recommended by the local tribal folks the last time i had come and indeed it leads to a very beautiful view point – showing the panani ranges in full majesty. It is indeed an awe inspiring sight.

The Kodai ranges are indeed blessed – they hide in plain sight a very beautiful form of tree system called Sholay (which in Tamil often means a special bush forest). Sholay is indigenous to this place and does not grow anywhere else in the world – a mix of deciduous forest but not quite – the trees look very intriguing and indeed refreshing. To be found all around Vattakanal and in often places in the east coastal belt in Tamilnadu (at heights only)

We spent the entire day here taking some photos of beautiful trees, meditating and walking around. Albeit there were more stoners here than usual (i had not figured this isolated place has become such a busy trippers joint). None the less Neelam and I could see the mountains (which are indeed so very old) and spend some time in peace.

While I was contemplating this thought kept recurring that we are composed more of alien genomes than our own, yet we have the selfishness centre which defines what is us and what is not based on superficial ego consciousness and nothing more. And so when I looked at the mountain and the beautiful scenery around us hosting so many different forms of life (both micro and macrocosmic) it seemed that indeed nature too was not one yet a composite which acted as a singular entity. This singular entity did not have any understanding of itself in the classical sense like how we do. There is no ego involved – only symbiotic synergy

This is not the first time i have felt such – but have always felt it in one new way or other amidst nature – this time under the time and space diffusing substance of the mushroom. Which has its roots deeper and longer on this earth than anything else. The mushroom causes the mind to slow down, causes it to rethink and act in a manner which it may when it may have been conceived and in this manner makes you see the interconnectedness of things better than anything else in nature. Though not a strong emotion – the feeling of this substance can be felt even by the faintest and the foolish most.

This time it evoked yet again the feeling of symbiotic interconnectedness both inside the body, of the thoughts bound in space time and of course within the macro – sensory nature itself. I sat amused and bemused at the same time – looking around at the beautiful colourful life that we all are part of, and at the same time thinking we are better or different from the dirt, dust and ash which consumes us and makes us.

When we started our way back, we saw a huge male alpha wild bison grazing on the hillock near some folks houses, neelam wished to take its photo (its back was to us, and this was the only way we could take any photos.. the massive beautiful beast had huge and i mean immense huge horns and must have weighed around 800Kg to a ton) but before she could click away – an old lady in fright who was passing by warned us – please do not take its photo – a single flash or hint of someone taking its photo may affect it. Please don’t. There was a tourist driver who was also standing looking at it and he told us go ahead and take, yet neelam who is a true sweetheart knew what the lady said was absolutely right. The beast could anytime get angry and wreck havoc on the houses and small fields nearby and perhaps even kill innocent folks of vattakanal. When I looked at it the second time in detail – I remembered that I had watched this beautiful beast the last time I had been to vattakanal somewhere over 3 years back. Even then it was here with its family (This time too we had seen his family below where we were spending time in peace).

This showed me how man and beast can live together, how man and others have lived in continuous symbiotic love and peace over so many centuries. There is nothing to it. This is one and the one breaks apart from itself to view itself as another. Sometimes it doesnt work out all that well (how its in today’s world where we cannot spend the moment in peace and love).

There seems to be love in vain, there seems to be no inspiration for the higher to manifest anymore – and this is our true challenge – To break apart from the reillusion and reunit with sensitivity to our fellow lost souls. All in a breakthrough urge to reuinite. To be one

Om Na Ma Ci Va Ya

Friday, August 10, 2012

Dancing Amidst White Snow

This is awhile back, but its as fresh as anything that ever is in my head.
I travel to the hills, starting with a pit stop in chandigarh; where I pick up my friend and we await another who is traveling up north india for business. We spend some time in peace and catching up; and I personally spend these precious moments re-visiting my once peaceful home in panchkula where I stayed for more than a year. We start up early in the morning from the sector - 40 bus stop where inter state buses align continously for himachal. Our destination is a distant place called Rampur - the last stop in the shimla district (or so I remember). This is the last village also bordering with the manali district of humachal. We have a common friend up there who we are to catch up with; who will show us some nice places. The travel up is as usual, slow yet exciting; as the weather cools and the scenery beckons, we all lose our sense of tiredness and catch up less sleep and more sights and before we know it- we are in shimla. We get off and take some time off roaming the empty streets at six in the morning and refresh with some hearty hill breakfast.
We get on the next bus towards narkhanda - the highest point in the shimla region. Its a quiet destination for many a honeymooners and travelers, I personally have been there more times that I care to remember. We get off at narkhanda and head of for the HP guesthouses; where we have some light lunch and sip on mountain wine. This is where the unthinkable happens, after drinking a couple of bottles my friends and I take a walk on literally the edge of the mountain and before I know it, I fall some 10 feet down on a pile of dung. Am drunk at my stupidity and laugh uncontrollably. So do my friends, and the sense of numb pain in my left leg starts shooting up one neuron at a time in my head. It hurts real bad. I cannot put my weight on it and I have ruined my trip for myself. My friends help me get some pain killers and I rest my weight on their shoulder and we catch the next bus as we move off to our destination - some 3 hours away, the small town of rampur. Little to say, I could do nothing, I could neither go this way or that. Going back home to delhi was a distant option and I was anyway not in a mood for it. So I take my friends advice and sleep in the bus with the help of some strong painkiller in the hope that the pain and hurt would subside. It wouldnt, my leg is swollen up and it is a bad sprain - which would take atleast a month to heal/ I could tell just by looking at it. But that was not my worry; it was what I could do as a vestigial person on the trip which killed me from inside. I keep hope none the less and we reach as I open my eyes, my friends tell me that I drooled like a kid and fell over all my fellow passengers on the way, not that I care to remember.
We are greeted by our friend who has booked us a moderate hotel in the vicinity. The view is amazing, there is a small river which seperates the village of rampur from the starting of Manali district. The river is small in breadth and great in respect of the ferociousness it shows. It is clearly impossible to cross, and the locals have built a beautiful little wooden bridge to cross it. The dextirity and simple inginuity of village folks especially on hills never seems to stop amazing me. I spend the night with my friends as well as our common friend who in his best efforts tries to do hot and cold compress on my leg, all i need is some shut eye time and a lot of healing. But that is very difficult to do when you are with friends on a trip. And I am not one to crib or cringe cause of pain (atleast not all that much). My friends take a midnight stroll on the river side and the bridge as I sit on my beautiful little balcony in silent meditation looking at the fast moving body of water. There is a sense of peace in the pain none the less.

The next morning, we decide to head back, the trip has been shortened due to my condition and I am not really one to complain, the pain has not subsided and the swelling has just increased, it is impossible to put any weight on it, and I have to take my friends help or the help of some sort of support to make the simplest of steps happen - on a hill this is never a good thing. We take the bus and head back to narkhanda - the place where I got my swollen foot due to my callousness.
There is a very famous temple at the top most point of narkhanda - known as hatu devi. I have been to this temple once before and I must say, the scenery and serenity from the height is simply out of this world. There is no feeling to describe it. It is sheer delight. And we all were in deep wanting to see it once again. This was winters falling and the truck drivers who generally ply people up and down in summers were all huddled up not in any sort of inclination to take us up, they told us that the road was snowed in more than 10 feet in height not far away, but the sheer thought of mountain of snow made us want to see it even more! idiotic city folk is something that would have struck these village folk at the earliest. One of them did oblige ofcourse for a handsome price, and took us up through the narrow winding roads - made mostly for people to walk ( and not cars to drive). He stopped at a place, where there was a little lake formed besides and a thick tall mountain of snow on the road and everywhere in front. We were breathtaken; in sheer awe at the beauty and serenity of nature's pure white. It was out of the world. Simply brilliant. We all got out of the car, and took some time to sit in freezing temps. My leg was far beyond numb and I had to frequently come inside the car to refresh it a little, yet I would walk out and walk in the snow, time soon came where existence would have no meaning but snow falling on our heads and all around. And so it did! I started dancing little by little at the delight I felt in my heart, so did my dear friends. We were taken back at the beauty of this event. We had no words to ever descibe it even to each other, and only the satisfaction on our faces was the clue that something had been fulfilled. We stayed in the snow fall for over an hour and then made our way down to catch the last bus from narkhanda - which would take us all the way down to chandigarh.
I was in incredible pain throughout the journey, yet the simple dance in snow made me realize I am not the body, just the attachment to it and its sensations makes me feel that I am only the body. The pain and indeed the sensory otherworldy pleasure is enough to make me realize that true clarity and beauty was outside the realm of sense belonging. Maybe just a simple hint through the delight of senses was enough to make me see that.
The journey back was painful to say the least, i had developed a very bad stomach ache and with the pain in my leg - it was impossible to sit 8 hours in the himachal roadways bus - which drove at crazy speeds meandering down the hills. By the time I reached back to chandigarh and crashed at my friends place - I had been done over and re-made. I can still probably never forget this bus journey (like many others), I just could not sit through this one. Stomach trying to make push me into some other realms and the leg keeping me here with the pain!
The trip was not at all a success, we could not spend any time in peace and mostly because of my injury, yet the small stopover at the high point of that area had beckoned us to dance like sufi maniacs. Rejuvenated and rested our souls indeed!
Peace and dance forever~

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Towering Tree Of Love...

Do we learn to love another life or does it come from somewhere within/somewhere extraordinary? Do you doubt the power of love? or even its existence?
I know the mind cannot love, for the mind is working and acting as if it is unique, paramount and alone in creation. So it has to be something different when it comes to loving free (atleast to me).

I ask myself these questions; and I can say that though I love without mind from somewhere else (perhaps the heart- which goes to say that I don't love because of just sensory allure). Yet I have also learnt/my mind has learnt how to love by seeing its causal signs in nature.
I have been influenced by nature and her glory to learn how to love simply and free, and one of my biggest teachers has been a tree. Yea that sounds strange, but its quite simple really when you are actively searching for hidden signs and portents with 'eyes wide open' (which I used to do earlier in my life);

So Yea, I learnt a lot from a particular tree, my current home has been rooted in the same place for the past 2 decades, and during this time, there stood (for over a decade) a lovely Ashoka Tree right next to my 2nd floor balcony. It doesn't live in form anymore, for it used to be rooted in my ground floor neighbour's garden and over time its roots became so big that they started crumbling my neighbours floor and he eventually had to axe it down. I still remember that was one of the cruelest days of my life, the day when I stood in my balcony and could not see or touch this magnificent being. (I just could not witness it being cut down either- still sends shivers down my spine)

The Ashoka tree had existed almost a couple of years after I shifted to my current place, and it was soon planted by my then neighbors, I remember that it grew to its towering height in just a year or two and remained that way till the end. It equaled my building height and it grew thick over the years with hell lot of branches all cloaked in thick leaves.

So soon enough the tree started hosting different animals, and this is when I really really became interested in this being.... the tree started having sparrows chirping away in the days and it became a haunt for bats in the nights.. soon it was permanently hosting bats under its thick growth,  there were crows and squirrels which perpetually lived on it; there were funky birds which nested on it over the years not to mention a family of owls which lived in it for over 3-4 years (I have been unfortunate enough to be hit by a young bats wings too-something which rarely happens).  and everyday when I did put my head literally inside the tree's foliage (my 2nd floor balcony was around half its height)... I could expect something varied and interesting. Over the years, the silent powerful tree became my favorite as well, every time I would head to the balcony to see the sky and touch the leaves and communicate and accept its love. and yes, plants/trees are alive, they do feel emotion and they very well do transmit energy too.. If you have not been able to sync with a simple and innocent life-form such as a plant even once in your life, then perhaps now is your chance.

The tree faded one winter, and it didn't come back to its original green color the coming spring, which was strange enough.. I remember thinking that the ground water levels might be the reason or perhaps the pollution or such (delhi was a hell hole of smoke back in those days)... and the tree was bare almost an entire year, the branches started withering and the tree was slowly and surely dying, none of us could figure out why it had not blossomed that year... and well most people don't really think long on such 'worthless' topics as life moves on.

Then a miracle did happen... The tree became as green as it was from the year before. Just like that, this was perhaps one of the most genuine true miracles I have seen in my life... The tree was almost dead... as it was in the nascent stages of rotting from the top... but perhaps over a week or so (or maybe even less)... it became like I had seen it forever before...full bloom and ever green!

It was rejuvenated somehow- and the funny thing is that after this incident.. I never got to see the tree bare ever. Come autumn and spring and the tree would remain same, some leaves would fall but never enough to make the tree any what clad of its inner home. And yea, all the living beings of the world came over and made their home in it once again... living in paradise would have been so much fun~
The Tree seemed to have somehow made up its mind, or given some power to live on... maybe all the life which existed in peace inside the tree (think about it, so many various different lifeforms used to have their nests and home inside the same tree... and this is what I found oh so marvelous) prayed for its survival/revival and lo~ it was so!!!!

The tree had become a nesting ground for life, offering its own body as a place for others to thrive (to the best of my knowledge in harmony and symbiosis)... you could tell me that the tree had no active intention of doing this for its a vegetable at best; and well I have heard and re-heard such fallacies from many, but when you feel the vibration of acceptance and love from another life-form, and hell its not there in your gaze with some malign personal intention... its just there... in all its wonder and silence... and its a part of you as you become a part of it. This transcendence from form and silent awe struck love unconditional is what I learnt from this ancient being. It taught me the power of love, and it showed me the miracle of life through itself. Now, in the absence of body; though invisible to most, it shines forth still to me,
No No not in my mind, that would be crazy, lunatic, schizophrenic at best... No, love comes from somewhere else, deep inside, and yes it does not need words or form for it to exist. The grand vision of this loving towering tree imprinted in my soul eternal is proof enough for my doubts to disappear.

Peace and Love


Thursday, June 17, 2010

Celebrate the Choice

I woke up; I climbed the steep climb, where it led was what I wanted to know. The morning mist had just gotten its hold on the weather. Everything cold to touch and numb to bare. I climbed in silence towards the summit and where it led.
Awkward nights I had lit the candle; tried to see as far as I could, in the darkness.. where the view would end? I could never gaze at the abyss as well as it could stare back at me.
At dawn the hills rose with fervor. They vibrated secret melody. Some could hear it, those who wished to blend in with the mesmerizing flow of nature; bountiful and abundant at her best.
In the days which follow; I could very well have lost my mind, but the mountain air clear and refreshing; cooled the heat from my head, flowing down with each breath taken.
I climb not in mood, and I dont climb because I have reason or need. I climb for that is the nature of everything which dwells in vertical landscapes. If i dont climb, there is no existence here for myself.
The mountain air blows harsh as i continue with my reverie. Trying to rid the human condition; of the need to suffer and redeem oneself in a lifetime. I want none of that. I am free; I ride carelessly, not recklessly but trodding to see the world beckon life once again, every moment of the breath taken to be alive!
Sure the path is raw and it doesnt leave you to gain for more. it needs the patience and lucidity of near perfection to the core. You have to be one with the path and the goal. Always. In silence and in peace with one and all around.
The shrubs decrease in their radiance as the climb steers on. There is water somewhere amidst the mist. The fresh smell and taste of something like that in the air could never ever be mistaken. Its a gentle fall at the distance, the distance which could be at the end of the ravine of this hazardous road. I swallow the taste from this unclear morning. With the sun hidden behind thick mountain mist. Somewhere lies what i seek (not); Somewhere here itself.
The mountain likens herself to be the hidden path. Towards one's emancipation from worldly sore. Look at what you see everyday and it will surely not show you what the grandeur this world was supposed to be.. I purse my lips and rub my hands to see warmth once more. Just a while longer. Till the mist covers me and takes me where ever she blows.
Such surprises loom in the shadow and mist, looking younger feeling stronger. Taking no care to see that the ice and snow has started to melt on your body as well.
I walk like the mountain life. slow on its feet and very very sure. There is no limitation for zen to occur at these heights. Whenever i turn and move upwards my very soul looks upwards at unity. In frozen silence.
The views are magnificent at great heights. But what is to be understood is that, for the view to exist the mountain and the valley are both needed. The duality and trinities which one sees at these altitudes is truly something apart. The fall in pressure, and atmosphere so not what humans feel and breathe (nowadays). Something takes over the mind. Guiding itself to something in patience and faith. Looking with awe and due respect towards the path that the mountaineer has to undertake and make.
Its such a celebration, must tell you. When you perfect the walk. The sheer effortlessness of the actions your body undertake. Looks like you have been possessed by the goddess mother maha maya herself. Its all the same power. Which makes the mountain and the climber and the walk as well. so well indeed.

I talk to the invisible forces everywhere. Its not in the languages which us humans have made up. Its the true language of nature and the multiverse itself. Its a kind of power that flows from one to another. It makes up the truth and the sentient living being. The entire being. The cosmic egg. In a process of being alive. Becoming.
What are you becoming wise ones? In the day to day walk through your life time. What will become of yourself? Will it be the same as what it started as. or will you fade and falter? Rise and Reclaim, what you are.
This is not patriotic, or religious, or sect intended. This is the truth. When you talk like this with your mind and heart burning the holes everywhere; wherever you look at, becomes the same singing tune. BAM. Thats the way you were intended to be. Becoming that is our work; and of course our choice.
I walk like a madman on the hills, when it suits me just fine. But when you will join me, the tribe of silence walking between melody. What will become of you? Is it the same view which you intend to see all time across; is what You and I must ask of ourselves.

Peace

The summit is the rise and fall.
Look and guffaw, at its sheer brilliance.
Under the white shimmer of moonlight captured in these endless snow days and nights.
Befold the true dawning, upon yourself as the final reminiscence which you possess of your former self.
Its the final beckoning. Come and join the tribe. Celebrate the choice. Intended to be. Your self like never ever known before.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The Banyan


Interested in myths? Look deeper, They unravel as we both go along, a bit fuzzy but the end is quite clear.
Dakshineshwara : Lord Shiva in silent repose. He sits beneath a giant banyan tree, with roots touching the ground, sitting in cool shade the master nath, looks beyond. He is contemplating not. He is being. 
There are devotees and maunis sitting close to him, as the master shows the silent path. Not close nor far, the knowledge of brahmn is here. Very much here. 
He speaks in para. The language which is silence, not created by the striking of 2 objects. nor born out of friction. 
Born out of sheer will. 

Then there is the question, as I have always seen and perceived the master. 
As the great giant banyan tree. All knowning and pervading into ether. A being of another grander more alive order. 
Where words are not born out of a barrier. but out of the enactment of the bliss which is verily life. 

This grand nature around us, humours us deeply. showing shadows and light. interplays of days and nights.
It bores us great delight. and wisdom and silence. 

Like the lord Vishnu recling on the great ocean of creation. Where the calm of the sea shall inspire the never eding ness which is surely life and love. 

I wonder whether our gods really are the loving silence of the banyan; the gentle flow from the confluence; a dhara; an eternal spring, the eternal of the calm sea. The lovers of life find that our gods are amidst us, every single which direction. 
I lift my hands in utter awe!
peace

When You get Stone


Let us think that power is something which can be quantified and inventory-sized. Let us assume that the sum total of Power on this planet. Its surface core etc all made of power, or having a definite quantity of power. The forests of this enchanted kingdom of earth, have power. Strange phenomenons, electricity, and visions haunt the stretches of these forests, most people who have spent time in forests will testify to this. Forests and plants have mesmerizing effects. There are strange and beautiful mysteries between the dense and shrub forests. The hill top trees and the desert cacti oasis' all contain immense trip worthi ness.
As the forests die, man takes over. He creates a stronghold for himself inside houses, as a hunter would, killing his prey and then disassembling it to make a stronghold for himself. Man protects against the power of this strange land inside structures, As the forests die, their power comes to where these structures now are. Their power creating effects inside the mind of man. Making him insane at times, and ignorant at most others. 
Il show you proof I say, 
The power which you behold is not your immortal body, which will soon turn into dust, the power which you so often boast of is the money, the note which you hold so dear.. 
and the funny thing is, the note too is made of the forest, the trees which transfer power from one bearer to another. One creditor to another debitor. 
When you get stone, then you can understand that power shall not die, infact you are the one who is going to pass on. The power which you hold with your breadth is some time soon going to merge into the unknown. 
There is a difference though between the Trees and you. 
The trees remain rooted yet reaching for the stars, they remain silent yet ageless. They are ever present. omniscient. 
And you remain particularly ignorant of this. You cut your own life line, your own teacher and giver down. 
The power of life is a delicate affair, those who can see this become more aware of the irreversibility and consequence of their actions. 
Through trees and nature, the power gives rise to more. Love and greater Love. 
Through Man right now, we taim the power or try to, as if it were a whore and try to force ourselves upon it. That is not possible. For power turns against those who control it. 
Only those who can give unto. Leave behind. Be. can let power of this planet into what force it really can be. 

Perhaps we can remove the word Power in this assumption, and replace it with anything else. Grace. Love. Energy. Bliss and its meaning shall remain un tainted. 

Peace. 

Ode to Humanity

I am not a big fan of human kind, the version of life that in today’s day seems to be only focused upon itself. The day’s pass and humans ...