Around the same time, couple of years ago, my neighbour Anjali Gupte nominated me to this one on Facebook. As luck would have it, it turned out to be a wonderful experience. I just noticed my last post was also a compilation of another challenge. Anyways, a post in a while is better than no post at all. So, here we go –
Let me know what y’all think!
Here’s the recent 7 day challenge that I posted on Facebook while in the middle of more challenges of life. It is funny though – that the more you have it, the more you take on!
Happy New Year, everyone!
Jhini jhini bini chadariya.
kah ke tana, kah ke bharni, kaun taar se bini chadariya
ingla pingla taana bharni, sushumna tar se bini chadariya.
ashta kamal dal charkha doley, panch tatva, gun tini chadariya
saiin ko siyat mas dus lagey, thonk-thonk ke bini chadariya.
so chaadar sur nar muni odhi, odhi ke maili kini chadariya
das Kabir jatan kari odhi, jyon ki tyon dhar deeni chadariya.
The Lord Supreme has woven a very fine and delicate tapestry, free of impurities of any kind!
What refined and subtle yarn, what complex interlacing, He has used to weave it!
Using veins and breath His threads Twenty four hours on end, His spinning wheel turns,
Weaving the tapestry from all five essential elements.
Ten months does it take the Lord to weave his tapestry,
Using the greatest of craftsmanship, care and skill.
That exquisite tapestry is worn by the celestials, by Saints, and by human beings alike.
But they all invariably have defiled it!
Your humble devotee Kabir has worn it scrupulously and meticulously,
And is returning it to You, O’Lord, unblemished and pure!
Source: Blind to Bound
“When our survival is in question, it is a big issue in our lives. But the moment it is taken care of, it doesn’t seem to mean anything. Somehow, for a human being, life doesn’t seem to end with survival; life begins with survival.”
~Sadhguru. “Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy.”
yogarato vaa bhogarato vaa
sangarato vaa sangaviheenah
Whether one is immersed in yoga or in revelling in outward enjoyment,
Whether he in enjoying himself in social company or has retired into solitude,
True happiness certainly cannot be his;
yasya bhrahmani ramate chitham
nandati nadati nandatyeva
But who alone is revelling inwardly in brahman (wherever he be),
He alone will be truly happy and will verily enjoy;
yayavatpavano nivasati dehe
taavatprichchati kulasham gehe
As long as there is life in your body,
Your people may have concern for you;
gatavati vaayo dehaapaaye
bhaarya bibhati tasminkaaye
But once the life-breath ebbs out of your body,
Even your wife will run away from you;
jatilo mundi lunchita keshah
kaashaa yaambara bahukrita veshah
The ascetic with matted looks, the man with the shaven head or one with hair pulled out, Or the man parading in the ochre robes – they all have eyes but yet do not see;
pasyannapi cha na pasyati moodho
hirudara nimitam bahukrita veshah
All these are but deceptions for cheating the world, For filling their bellies;
(Renunciation does not lie in external appearance, but inward thought, attitude and feeling)
kaa ta kaantha dhanagata chintaa
vaatula kim tava naasti niyantaa
Crazy man! why do you worry so much about your wife and property?
Why don’t you seek the truth?
trijagati sajjana sangati rekaa
bhavati bhavaarnava tarane nouka
Know that in these three worlds, it is only the association with the good and holy,
That can help you in crossing safely the ocean of life;
maa kuru dhanajana youvana garvam
harati nimishita kaala sarwam
The pleasures and riches of worldly life are deceptive appearances;
maaya mayamidha makhilam hitwa
brahma padam twam pravisha viditwa
Understanding that they are all but a passing show, be detached and dispassionate,
Cultivate renunciation and seek Brahman;
naree sthana bhara nabhee desham
dhrishtwaa maa gaa mohavesham
yetan maamsava sadi vikaaram
manasi vichinthaya vaaram vaaram
Enticed by the physical glamour of a woman, do not lose your senses; The body is nothing but a conglomeration of flesh, Do not forget this anytime;
kurute gangaa saagara gamanam
vatapari paalana mathavaa daanam
jnana viheenah sarva matena
bhajati na muktim janmasatena
One may have bathed in the holy Ganges or even in the Ganga Sagar; He may have performed many charities and observed many vows; Yet unless one has glimpsed the truth, He will not release even after a hundred lives;
praanayaamam pratyaahaaram nityaanitya vivekavichaaram
jaapyasameta samaadhividhaanam kurvavadhaanam mahadavadhaanam
Regulated breathing and sense control, discrimination between the enduring and the fleeting; the eternal and the transient, Japa and meditation, And submerging of the bodily and mental consciousness in the consciousness of the spirit, merging oneself into the total inner silence – One must practice these with unrelenting fervour;
satsangatwe nissangatwam nissangatwe nirmohatwam
nirmohatwe nischalatatwam nichalatatwe jeevan mukhtih
The company of the good weans, one away from false attachments; When attachment is lost, delusion ends; When delusion ends, the mind becomes unwavering and steady.
An unwavering and steady mind is merited for jeevan mukti – liberation even in this life;
baala staavat kreedaa sakthah
Tharuna staavat tharunee sakthah
vriddha staavat chinthaa sakthah
parame bhrahmani kopi na saktha
Childhood skips off on sport and play, youth flies off in pusuits of love making, As one grows older, he is drowned in worry about the security and future of his wife and children; One’s whole life gets spent in some kind of worry or other, And at no stage does man find time to lift his thoughts to God.
punarapi jananam punarapi maranam
punarapi jananee jatare sayanam
ita samsaare bahudustaare
kripayaa paare paahi muraare
Undergoing the pangs of birth again and again, passing through the throes of death again and again, Lying in the mother’s womb over and over again, this process of samsaara is hard to cross over. Save me from this, Oh merciful Lord!
bhaja govindam bhaja govindam
govindam bhaja mudhamate
Seek Govinda! Seek Govinda! Seek Govinda! Oh ignoramus! At the time of death the rules of grammar which you’re trying to cram and master, will not be able to rescue at all!
and those that I know!
i know, right outside my home they’re abusing their political influence to set up a on site industry which is causing both noise as well as dust pollution to the neighbourhood. Everyone is so pissed off but have no heart to take any action. Not even good enough to go and beg the whoever.
i know, the road that I drive on everyday has been narrowed down due to a blunder caused by another well known and well connected industrialist. When they laid out fresh tar on the narrowed section it made many of us happy. We love these small outcomes. Not that anyone did anything about it. Except that a political leader had visited our neighborhood and most probably found it too bumpy.
i know, how risky it is to drive by a road that is void of a retaining wall. And the other side is lake filled to the brim. The liquid force can simply cave in. I am in a continuous risk of fatality and not just me, everyone that take the road!
i know, the reinforcements have all rusted out since it has been raining since they started construction of bridges and retaining walls. They’re just building it on top of it. That is a total risk of a much bigger magnitude if and when they are put to use. I just hope and pray the nature save the future commuters, somehow!
I know, these have been on my head, haunting me all the time! I also know I couldn’t do anything about it. I know, I won’t do anything about it. Kya karna yaar? Kyu panga lene ka? I’m so accommodating and so are everyone in my vicinity!
i don’t know, if terrorists came in to Pathankot, blew up whatever. Did the pee somewhere? All that I know is the media is making so much noise about it. I don’t know anything since I stopped watching news ever since I paid attention to know that they themselves call it stories and make us believe it all. I’m better off not knowing any such stories. They’re only disturbing and distracting me from focusing on issues that I know.
i don’t know, if a news channel deserved a one day ban, a token day ban, all channels be banned for a day, a thirty day ban is a deserved chance r any of that shit. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve banned them a long time ago. Good riddance!
i know, all of these from the social media I frequent on. Not from the mainstream media.
I know, most of these are motivated by which side of the political spectrum that you are on. Luckily, I’ve been blessed with Love for music where it only sounds right when you come down the scale as much as you’ve loved going up. I’ve been blessed with love of birds, whose left wing and right wing work together to lift the center. I’ve been blessed with love for photos where the shadows and light make the magic not just one of it.
I know, now that you’ve come this far reading my rambling, you’re a good friend! 🙏
And there are things that I don’t know…
It’s more about throwing brickbats against each other than what’s being tolerated. It’s amazing to see how the public at large can be fooled. How easily the perception can be built, taken advantage of and lead to a massive movement that goes nowhere!
Corruption is a thing of the past. That they were discussing before beef!
Hats off to the politicians, the media and the citizens of this nation!
The other day I was playing with distortion effects on the photos till I dropped. I had to decide that I had enough of it but one of the images that I did had to be put up. So I decided to add a quote to it from Shawshank Redemption
Interesting conversation that propped up off that!
Can you believe this? We can coexist, together!
This magpie, Penguin, was rescued and even though it had (and still has) the option of flying away, she decided to make this her home. And she plays with them, cuddles with them and even brings his friends over to visit. You must read all about it at here
By the time it was 5:30am there’s a flurry of notification beeps from the tablet and phone. Last time it happened a few weeks ago, there was a flickr user who chose to favourite most of the stream – it brought me a smile! I’d sent him a thank you note!
It’s usually UTC 0:00 hours when some automated hackers decide bombard servers with Denial of Services (DoS) attacks. And it’s the turn to one of our servers. So the notifications were of the email alerts! Time to call it Happy Friday and go about it.
Nobody provides support for >geek<ily configured servers and sysadmins would sneer at you if you have custom ports to access systems. But the first thing that you’ll hear “You should think of adding Load Balancers and they start only at $10 a month!”. So, to cater to a DDOS attack, the first thing that we need is a load balancer. And the capacity that you’ve built it is running at 98% idle overall – at all times!
I had to drop the plans of dropping my son to the school and I’ll be automatically voided of the small conversation that I could have with him. The rest of day, anyways, goes into meting out the problems that the world is facing!
So it takes three hours of fighting with the text prompts, google searches, teas, having to ignore the sunbirds that have turned extremely purple to find a new route that people have taken to take me for a ride. Maybe it was the same last time but I wasn’t aware. So each time it’s a new type of attack and I have to learn and add to my notes.
Turns out it’s a WordPress vulnerability that’s been discovered and supposedly fixed, has surfaced again. And it seems to be on the surfacing mode all the time – at least 4th time per people’s rambles. I really wonder if WordPress is really bothered about fixing these. For I see a lot of folks moving to their premium hosted solution and is there some strings attached?
At least, I ended feeling good having gotten over it at 9:30am – a flat 3 hours of Hollywood movie time, much like The Matrix. Back in the balcony, we had an army of tailorbirds that came to wish me for the good recovery. I’ve never seen more than two till then. The usual bulbuls testing the waters of the bird bath. The sunbirds whom I can only hear out of the windows a few moments ago, sticking out their tongues.. The magpie robins and white eyes. Wow, it was just all of them. I decided against running for the camera and continued to sip the tea which my better half got for me. All of it brought me the smile. Did you wonder why I had that Sunbird up there?
All that matters!
rambling... 