This happened many years ago in our small town. There was only one doctor, a general practitioner for the town and several small villages around. The clinic was very small with a small laboratory and a few staff.  The doctor's job was pretty tough but he was always cheerful and enjoying his job.  Many times the villagers would come with vegitables (eg. pumpkin) or one live hen etc.. instead of money.  Sometimes it would be pure ghee, butter, fruits or some rare items generally not available in market.  There were many instances when doctor himself asked the familiar patients to bring certain things like pure ghee, fresh vegitables etc.. The doctor used to discourage too much of this but never sent back anybody for not having money.  His fees was reasonable and sometimes free depending on the patient's condition. He was very friendly with the village folks and they had good respect for the doctor.

Once an innocent villager (named "Thimma") had a bad stomach and visited the doctor for consultation. The doctor advised him to bring his stools for examination in laboratory. Thimma thought it would be too impolite to ask the doctor about how and how much. He was also too shy to ask anybody. After spending the whole day thinking on the issue he finally came to his own conclusions that it has to be best of the containers and the whole output so that there will be no shortage for any tests in the laboratory. He purchased a brand new stainless steel box. Next day the full output was directly deposited into the box. He tightly closed it and put it in a cloth bag. In the clinic he waited for his turn and did not speak to anybody and kept the bag close to him.  When his turn came, he went to the doctor and said 'doctor, I have brought what you asked for yesterday', the doctor had forgetten and kept staring at Thimma trying to remember, Thimma showed the box and said 'it is that doctor that you told me, did you forget'. Now the doctor was scratching his head and asked Thimma for the slip of paper that he had given. Thimma had forgetten the slip as he had lot of worries about the whole issue. Again Thimma said 'Oh doctor, it is that you had told me to bring'.  After seeing the stainless steel box doctor assumed that it must be either ghee or butter and asked Thimma 'Ok while going back give it to my wife at home'. Now, Thimma got confused and became nervous, he thought it has to be delivered to the laboratory. The doctor asked him 'ok now tell me what is your ailment', Thimma was starting to understand the situation and started to profusely perspire. He was not able to talk and started stammering 'doctor, it is that, it is that you had told'. The doctor now started thinking hard and suddenly remembered the case and shouted 'Thimma if you do not run away i will thrash you hard'. Thimma started trembling now but did not run away. It was only a moment and the doctor burst into laughter and thanked Thimma for not delivering it at his home as he had ordered earlier. It is not known how long it took to cure the stomach ailment of Thimma but, this joke lightened many hearts in our town.

Yesterday our new office boy was asked to make a "Leave Register".  I was stunned to find in the computer the caption "List of Employees to Live".  News spread quickly and the waves of laughter. Everyone sighed a relief to find their names in the register and also there was no 'to be shot' list. Rounds of humour were still going on the matter.

Nothing can be more intriguing than the multitudes of human nature. He can be very kind, very cruel, a stream of love, a mountain of hatred, very gentle and humble and also very rude and insulting.  It is amazing that all these good and bad qualities can be seen within ourselves (almost each one of us) in varying magnitudes at varying times depending on various situations.  How many times you regret for hurting someone in a fit of anger. In fact, there is no human being who has only good qualities. (Really good ones let us call saints, known or unknown).  If God has created man to be this way, there must be some reason. I don't know whether one can infer and understand such a reason, but let me just discuss without much of expectations.

In the process of evolution, certain instincts and qualities (let us not call them bad) were necessary especially in predators.  A tiger or lion has to be deceitful if it has to pounce and kill its prey. A fox has to be cunning for its survival.  These instincts and qualities instead of calling as negative or bad let us call them as their nature as created and intended by God.  Now, consider the animals that live in herds. These animals have to live in a societal environment where cooperation is essential. It has been observed that calfs without mother have been looked after by other females in the herd (eg. elephants). The cow is a perfect example of a good natured animal. It shows its love to its owner who feeds it.

Let us not divide predators and preys into bad and good animals. Even the predators display lot of love towards their offsprings and raise them with utmost care. Without this love the species can not survive. The basic and most fundamental instinct is the survival of the species not the self (for all creatures including man). The predators also live in some sort of herds though not big, even otherwise they show enough affection to fellow beings atleast for procreation.

Even the most unassuming deer shows utmost courage and fighting spirit when the life of its offspring is in danger from a predator. In herds of these animals fights for winning females is not uncommon.  Many times such fights lead to death and serious injuries. These qualities are not limited to a certain class of species, it is same for microbes, plants and animals.

These qualities, both of them are essential for all animals for their very survival. What about human beings. The same instincts and qualities have come down to us naturally in the process of evolution and these are essential. Now, we have to tread further arguments very carefully.  Man can think, he is very very powerful compared to other species. He has to assume responsibility of his surroundings and environment. In all the species (largely) other than man the negative instincts and qualities is not detrimental to their own kind and surroundings. While man can think good he can also think crooked. Man can build his own arguments in justification of his misdeeds and still think he is righteous.

The spiritual progress of man is in understanding his responsibilities to his own kind and to the mother nature. Man has a choice to make in every situation. The choices can be weighed to find out which is in better interest of his own kind, nature, country etc.. Sometimes the choices may not appear to be best in self interest, sometimes they may lead to temporary losses, but in long term, these are the choices that bear the sweetest successes. If the decisions we make are in harmony with nature the nature is bound to make returns in abundance.

Now, let us come to some of the specific negative qualities of human nature. There are basically six negative traits - Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and Matsarya. They are part of basic human nature and no human being is free from these.  We can recognize them when they cause the feelings. Nobody is free from these feelings.  By the time you realise that you are angry you are already angry and in all probability it is only after it has done all the damage that you realise that anger came in destroyed and left. When you get angry and act there is a gap where you still have opportunity to think and choose your action. You should be very lucky to become aware when the actual emotion is surfacing. Similarly, Kama, especially the sexual aspect, the desire arises instinctively.  These feelings surface just naturally without any invitation. What is in your hand is to become aware and handle these feelings with proper judgement and care. This is exactly the difference between man and animal.  If your opponent is pointing a gun towards you, you are rightfully angry with him, is it wise to display your anger and scold him.  It is better you control your anger and skillfully try to convince him to put down the gun.

Now, having accepted that these negative qualities are within our nature how do we deal with others who display these qualities. There is a problem here, when we do it, it is by slip or by mistake, when someone else does it, he did it purposely. He is a bad guy. He is always like that. We have virtually zero tolerance towards others' negative qualities and quick to brand as bad fellows. One small act of selfishness by others can not be tolerated by us when we ourselves on many occassions even exceeded the same level. One act of your friend that was not favourable to you made you forget all the good things he did for you in the past. Everything is forgetten in a flash. Do we doubt when someone tells a bad thing about another fellow, it is immediately believed. Contrary to that if someone else is praised even genuinely we become jealous and doubt that fellow or secretely praise his skill to create good impressions.

Spirituality is not a fight against negative qualities but to use our ability to think and act with true sense of natural justice and to be righteous.

Disclaimer: Dear friends, these are my thoughts spontaneously keyed in to the computer. I do not claim that I practice whatever is said above as desirable behaviour. But I will keep trying. I have no gender bias, if I have used 'man' at some places it was only for convenience of launguage it could have been 'woman' also (at some places it was appropriate by a narrow margin ;] )

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to share your thoughts.

How do we approach life?.  Should we completely focus on what we have to achieve with full seriousness and accomplish our goals within our life times. Or, should we just go through letting the things happen on their own believing everything is pre-destined and whatever the destiny has in store let it happen?.

The answer is in between these two extremes.  It is very important that you should have life time goals and short time goals, at the same time putting all our efforts only to work for goals will become tiresome.  There is a story. An young wood cutter reported to his new master in a forest.  The master gave him a sharp axe and asked the young man to cut certain trees (I hate this part). The first day the man could cut six trees, second day he cuts three, by six days he will be taking almost two days to cut a tree.  The master looks at the performance of the young man and says 'son, did you stop often for taking rest and to sharpen the axe'. The young man says 'No master, I thought, if I take frequent breaks I would be wasting time and also I thought sharpening the axe will waste half day's work'.  The master advised 'son, take breaks long enough to rejuvenate the body so that your strokes have strength and sharpen the axe so that you will be more effective'. The lesson in the story is even in life sometimes we should do certain things just for our own joy it may be singing dancing or anything just only to be joyful and relaxed.  This will reduce our stress and freshen up our moods and hence increase our efficiency in performing whatever we plan to do.  Sometimes, longer breaks are required to hone our skills or to acquire new skills or just to break a monotony or purely for the joy of serving a good cause. 

When you takeup a long journey, you do not sprint as you have to reserve your energies for long haul.  When you hone your skills of making the journey 'efficiently' rather than quickly you can reach farther.  There may be no road, no compass, no maps, sometimes it may be just the guess but wise do not get disheartened as many times it is after these aimless wandering you will come across a road.  The basic principle is to keep moving in whatever direction you think is best until you hit the right road.  If life is a journey and you have a path to follow and landmarks to pass do you just walk looking at the road.  You can enjoy the surrounding beauty, the breeze, the sunshine, and songs of the birds.  Take rest in bad weather as your progress won't be good and you can utilize the time for taking good rest. The weather can't be bad all the time.  Stop at cross roads to be sure which is the correct road. Consult the wise, elders, knowledgeable people and use your own judgement to choose a path.  A halt of a few minutes at a cross road is not a waste of  time compared to a bad hasty judgement.

If you have companions, help them come along and they will lend their helping hand when you need help.  Together, sometimes you can overcome obstacles better than alone.  Do not worry that you may have to share with them because life provides so much in plenty that you will have enough of whatever you deserve. It is better you guide those who need and take them along, take as many as possible but be careful enough not to be misdirected.  More the people you take along, they will inspire you and you inspire them, there will be a synergy and the journey will become more efficient and joyful. 

One of the great personalities said "Purpose of Life is Life of purpose".  Life is not without a purpose and once there is life there has to be a purpose.  Without bothering about what the great people said about purpose of life let us come to logical arguments to put together some light on the subject.  Why there is life in the first place? Why it is evolving? when will evolution come to an end if it has one?. The basic tendency of all physical entities from subatomic particles to biological life systems is to be in minimum energy condition or in most optimum or efficient energy conditions.  Biological things grow that means they use up lower level material convert them and produce energy and further grow so that they can consume more. It gives them time to learn and evolve.  A single organism can not do this job in its own life time hence they developed themselves a reproduction system so that long process of evolution can systematically take place.  It is speculative whether human evolution especially the physical aspect will continue or not.  According to Sri Arabindo it is only spiritual direction the humans can further evolve and physically it is already a dead end.

At every level in life from microbes to complex mammals there is purpose of life. For lower beings it is only to reproduce and most importantly to be in harmony in nature and play the exact role for which a species has been selected.  Honey bee has to reproduce as well as help in pollination and also to provide food for bears and other animals including humans. The cattle serve in tilling and providing milk, dogs and cats provide the all important companionship, love and affection.  Everything has a purpose.

Now, let us address the question with respect to human beings.  Humans have to be in harmony with nature like every other life form in creation. They have to live and let live the other life forms and natural systems.  It is true that predator has to hunt to survive but it serves in keeping herd healthy by reducing the herds to maintainable size and also by removing the weaker ones the herd will be heathier.  It is all within the natural harmony.  It is the evolution of man that trampled a lot in nature but may be it is part of the evolution process and natural selection.  Harmony for humans is very simple. It is to be in harmony with your own species that is to cooperate and help procreate next generation and provide well for the future generation.  Along with take care of surroundings, the environment, the ecological system, help others as much as possible, so that they are happy and grateful.

The purpose of life is to serve the humanity and the entire nature in totality.  It is also to be grateful and joyful and enjoy the fruits of being whatever you have been.  Finally, when you leave the body you must leave the world with a positive contribution.  Being happy, peaceful and being full of love and joyful is all the more important as that is being in harmony with yourself and everything else.  If you are comfortable with yourself in being yourself and enjoy whatever good you can do is nothing but being purposeful in life.

You see everywhere in nature so much of harmony.  The flowers produce the nectar, the honey bees and the butterflies survive on nectar and at the same time help in pollination and hence in reproduction of plants.  It is amazing to see the plants without any brains (!???) know exactly what is required for the butterflies and what they can do for them.  The fragrance these plants produce and the aesthetic appeal they have on us is amazing.  We love the beauty of these flowers and hence tend the plants that produce them.  They make us happy and we let them grow. Definitely we can't tell they don't have brains, they have a lot.  In western ghats of India there is a variety of huge tall tree.  This tree naturally develops in the bottom portion of its trunk a sort of ribs which gives the tree tremendous stiffness and strength.  These ribs are similar to column gussets at the bottom to increase the momet of inertia and the joint strength at bottom.  It will be too much to discuss the engineering aspects of the femur bone in humans.  It is inescapable that there is huge intelligence behind all these.

Now coming back to harmony, the domestic animals from cattle, cat, dog, goats, hen etc.. are serving humans and survial of their own species depends on their being domesticated. The survival of the species seems to be the mantra rather than surviving of self.  The ants do not bother about their own survival when there is an attack on their nest or dwelling.  It is amazing to see that life itself can survive in a very narrow bandwidth of temperature (compared to extremes in our universe). Further, have you ever wondered the semiconductors also work only within this very very narrow band of temperature. Do you conclude these things as a great coincidence or by design. I have concluded that all these are disguised as coincidences but by a design and still governed by physical laws.  The most useful and strongest metal iron is plenty and that (gold) which has more of aesthetic value and lesser practical use is not so plenty.

If we think of microorganisms. It is a great wonder that a killer virus or bacteria has not yet evolved to wipe out the humanity.  The HIV is a deadly virus but fortunately it is not contagious.  Biologists know too well that it does not take much efforts for a deadly contagious virus to wipe out life.  Imagine the virus which causes common cold evolving itself into a terminal monster, actually it is only a small step.  We need not fear that, the creator takes care of us until he is bored(!?).

Human body is full of micro-flora and fauna.  Human body is a perfect example of harmony.

It is when you eat a ripe fruit (any) that you wonder about its creation.  How wonderful it is.  The taste of the fuit makes such an appeal to the tastebuds of the tongue.  Did the fruit evolve to suit the tongue or tongue evolve to like the fruit.  Either way it is a wonder.

OK, now the milk the cow produces soon after birth of the calf is very rich in nutrients and is most suitable to the calf to rapidly develop immunity and strength.  The same quality of milk can not be sustained by the cow and the milk becomes normal after a few days.  By now, the calf has got initial boost of nutrients and now stable to recieve normal cow milk (sustainable).  Now you see the real wonder, the cow produces much much more milk for much more longer time than needed by the calf as it has to provide it to its owner (human) for his consumption.

There are thousands and thousands of such examples of harmony in Life and so many amazing wonders.  It is all more than magic.

Is there GOD?

In ancient Indian philosophy there are two postulates.

1. GOD is omnipresent

2. GOD omnipotent

Now, a thing, a concept, a energy field whatever may it be assumed as "that" should have the above two qualifications to be called as GOD.

"That" should be there at every point in matter and space, then is it something very very fundamental?.  Let us for time being think from the point of view of physics. "That" must be the basic, fundamental building block of 'ether' and 'matter'.  We know that it is not possible to prove or understand this concept by science point of view at this point of time.

Let us look at some logical means.  We can see in nature tremendous intelligence everywhere.  For example the flight of dragon fly.  Its body is light and shaped for aerodynamic manouvering.  Its control and precision is amazing.  The intelligence within the dragon fly is evidence of "that".  The harmony in nature is another evidence. The complete existence from subatomic particle, crystalline structure of material and complex life systems have a tendency to be at minimum and stable energy levels. We can not brush away the knowldge behind their behaviour as simple natural way. Definitely, the intelligence is giving away the evidence and leaving large gaps for those who want to doubt about such a super concious.  The super concious, whatever it is definitely can not be defined in terms of our own bodily conciousness(mind).  Our bodily concious (mind) is one dimensional, when we see a thing we percieve it and think about it and next moment we may think about something, it is like a train one after another only but not all of them together.  The super conciousness is beyond our imagination, much beyond our perceptions, it is not understandable in the way we generally understand other things.  But, we are intelligent and knowledgeable enough to understand that "that" is there and it is beyond our understanding.  That "that" is GOD.

Then why should we give GOD, a form, as if some powerfull fellow sitting up in the sky in some far off place.  It was only to bring an un-understandable super concious to the forms within our perceptions just to be grateful to the super concious.  Anyway when GOD is omnipresent and omnipotent how does it matter how you are grateful to "that", whether you use a form, idol or anything for that matter.

More in next few blogs

Soul is a concept, it is not a thing, therefore it exists everywhere in the body, that it knows every point in the body at every point of time.  If it is not a thing and a certain part of the body is amputated a part of the soul does not go away with amputated part, then what happens in a transplantation like a kidney the body part continues to function. Now the part comes under the command of another soul (concious). Rather, the soul is not understandable with our perceptionary knowledge right now. We have to realise and understand this limitation of ours. We can not see X-rays but we know it is there through some other evidence like the photographic film. We know that it is there but do not know how to prove it to somebody who is capable of understanding only through 5 senses.

I am often amazed by this concept of compassion.  Is it natural with hard wiring.  Is it because of our education and upbringing.  Why do we feel the pain when someone is in pain.  You are going on road and in front of you a scooter skids and the man, the lady and the kid fall and get injured.  What are your feelings.  You feel the pain.  You are hurt.  You feel bad for whatever happened.  If you are action oriented you will rush for helping them.  You will find a crowd gathering and people help the injured.  They may be strangers but still you feel compassionate.  What is the reason?.  There must be something that connects us with the rest of the world in someway.  The US space shuttle Challenger exploded while taking off.  Seven astronauts including a school teacher died in the incident.  How did you feel when you heard the news?, bad is isn't it.  What connects us to someone we have never met.  Compassion, what is very special in us is this quality.  You feel pity or sorry for somebody, you may not do anything but still definitely there is compassion.

Dear friend please throw more light on this.

This was the time when Udyan express used to start from Bangalore in the morning and reach Pune at unearthly 0320am.

Our Sleeper coach cabin had 6 very unusual bunch from different walks of life. There was a welder, a medical rep, a shopkeeper, a supervisor of a chocolate factory and an accountant.  Myself an engineer.  It was the welder who started welding the people together.  He was going to Dubai for a job for a second stint.  He struck a conversation with me to begin with and others got dragged into slowly.  It was soon clear that the journey was going to be very interesting.  By the time of lunch we were close enough to share whatever we had brought.

The welder was so frank and open we simply liked him.  He provided very good entertainment about his experiences in Dubai in his previous stint.  Everybody had some experience to share and the interaction with this group was really enriching.  We could learn something about chocolate making, about pharmceutical market, book keeping and on sales of different items from a small shop and also difficulties and humourous situations in their day to day work.  When most of the people slept in the afternoon, we preferred to talk out.  The dinner was with lot of variety and again shared with all.  We slept late.  I reminded everyone to wake me up at 0320am if i did not get up myself.  I had my airbag packed except for my shoes, chappal, two bed sheets and a pillow.  I could not sleep until 12 thinking about getting up at 3am and then i did not know that i had slept off!!!.  Suddenly, i got up in the night to find that the train had stopped at some railway station, i was trying hard to see from the window by the time the train started moving and that is the time i realised that it was pune station where i had to get down.  By that time two of my new friends had also woken up i just screemed 'arey this was pune', they shouted back 'jump we will thow your bag out'.  i just jumped out of the moving train (speed was not yet much).  In the train it was full of action, there was a human conveyor setup to pass my possessions and to throw out of the door, i just watched my bag thrown out then my bed sheets and pillow.  Finally my footware were thrown out at quite a distance as they had to sort out whose what. There were hardly a few people in the platform and those who were watching could not figure out why this man is being thrown out.  I slowly picked up my belongings and packed my airbag. One or two curious souls enquired and had a good laugh.

When I narrated my story to friends everyone had a hearty laugh.