माया माया रे, ठगनी माया रे

Listening to Maya - a collaboration between Indian Ocean and Mohit Chauhan. Song is good, but somehow Mohit Chauhan was missing - I mean, it was more of a guest appearance for Mohit and did not appear to be a collaboration at any stage.

btw माया क्या है

अच्छा सवाल है
एक कहानी सुनाता हूँ, बचपन मे पढ़ी थी, याद नहीं कहाँ .
इस कहानी को कई तरह से सुनाया गया है, कभी कृष्ण सुदामा तो कभी विष्णु नारद और कभी कृष्ण और नारद के बीच हुई बातो के तौर पर.
कही सुदामा पानी लाने की जगह एक लड़की के प्रेम में फँस जाते है तो कही वो खुद एक लड़की के रूप में जन्म लेते है ..

जो हमें ज्यादा बढ़िया लगी, वो कहानी हम आप तक पहुचाते है - अपने अंदाज़ मे, यानी थोड़े फेर बदल के साथ

सुदामा जी को कृष्ण से कहते है , प्रभु हमें भी समझाओ तो सही की ये माया है क्या आखिर.
उनकी जिद के आगे कृष्ण भी झुक जाते है और कहते है माया को समझा नहीं जाता अनुभव किया जाता है. खैर कोई बात नहीं एक बार नदी मे एक डुबकी लगा के तो आओ, फिर तुम्हे बताता हूँ की माया क्या है.
सुदामा जी जैसे ही डुबकी लगाने लगते है, उनका पैर फिसल जाता है. नदी मे एक घड़ियाल होता है जो उनका पैर खीच के उन्हें गहरे पानी मे खींच लेता है और सुदामा कृष्ण को आवाज़ भी नहीं दे पाते, और मृत्यु को प्राप्त होते है.
सुदामा कुछ सोचते उस से पहले ही उन्हें दिखता है की उनकी आत्मा पुनरजन्म के लिए नगर सेठ के घर की और चल पड़ी है. सुदामा जी का जन्म नगर सेठ के घर मे होता है, मगर जब तक वो कुछ बोलना सीख पाते, वो कृष्ण और अपने पिछले जन्म को ही भूल जाते है और नये जीवन मे रम जाते है. जैसे जैसे समय बीतता जाता है , सुदामा युवा होते है, नगर सेठ बनते है और एक सुन्दर सी कन्या से उनका विवाह होता है. जीवन अच्छे से व्यतीत होने लगता है. पुत्र पुत्रियों के अलावा पोत्र पोत्री, प्रपोत्र, प्रपोत्री भी बड़े होने लगते है, और एक दिन उनका यानि नगर सेठ के शरीर का अंतिम दिन भी आ जाता है. मृत्यु के बाद सुदामा को अपना शरीर जलने के लिए ले के जाता दिखता है और वो अपने शोक कुल परिवार से अलग होने के बारे मे सोच कर बहुत ज्यादा दुखी होते है, जैसे ही राम नाम सत्य है का कोलाहल उन्हें दूर से सुनाई देता है, अचानक उनका शरीर ऊपर उठने लगता है. सुदामा यानि नगरसेठ अपने परिवार को जोर से आवाज़ देंना चाहते है, मगर अचानक देखते है की वो तो नदी मे है और कृष्ण उनके बगल मे खड़े मंद मंद मुस्कुरा रहे है, तभी उन्हें सामने से आता हुआ अपना यानि नगर सेठ का परिवार दिखता है. वो सब नगर सेठ के शरीर को जलाने नदी किनारे आये होते है, सुदामा उन्हें आवाज़ देना चाहते है मगर उनका गला रुंध सा जाता है. उन्हें समझ मे आ गया होता है, की एक पल मे, एक डुबकी लगाने जितने समय में वो एक पूरा जीवन जी चुके होते है.

यही माया है.



.

न अपनी खुशी आये, न अपनी ख़ुशी चले

Listening to an old ghazal of Jauk (contemporary fo Ghalib), sung by K L Sehgal.

लाई हयात आये, कजा ले चली चले
न अपनी खुशी से आये, न अपनी ख़ुशी चले

बेहतर तो है यही के न दुनिया से दिल लगे
पर क्या करे जो काम न बेदिल्लगी चले

दुनिया ने किस का राह-ए-फ़ना में दिया है साथ
तुम भी चले चलो य़ू ही, जब तक चली चले


हयात - Nature, existence
कजा - Death

चिंता ता की कीजीऐ, जो अनहोनी होए

रामु गइओ रावनु गइओ जा कउ बहु परवारु
कहु नानक थिरु कछु नही सुपने जिउ संसारु

चिंता ता की कीजीऐ, जो अनहोनी होए ॥
इहु मारगु संसार को नानक थिरु नही कोइ

- गुरु तेग बहादुर

अर्थात
राम भी नहीं रह सके, रावन को भी जाना पड़ा - चाहे जितना बड़ा परिवार था - कोई नहीं रोक सका - जो होना था वो हुआ. कुछ भी हमेशा के लिए नहीं है, ये संसार एक सपने जैसा है.

चिंता ता की कीजीऐ जो अनहोनी होइ, अर्थात
चिंता तो उस बात की करो जो की न होनी हो -
This is deep, I like it - He is not asking us to start worrying for things that are not supposed to happen, but asking us to realise that there is nothing like अनहोनी - or "not supposed to happen".
No event can have a tag that "it was not supposed to happen".

Whatever will happen, was actually supposed to happen, and hence not unhonee.
इहु मारगु संसार को नानक थिरु नही कोइ - on this road called world, Nothing is permanent. It will change.

सो इस संसार की हर बात बदलने वाली है, कुछ भी ऐसा नहीं है जिसे देख कर आप कह सके की यह तो अनहोनी थी. जो भी होगा वो तो होना ही था. और जिस बात के बारे मे आपको पता ही है की ये तो होनी है, उसकी चिंता कैसी.

Somewhere it resonates with the Geeta Saar.

or if you relate more with the man who knew too much -
Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be.

Cognitive dissonance & BLIND support for Anna

Would Lokpal change everything in your day-to-day life? Any rational thinking person would know the answer, still why there is the kind of BLIND support for the movement
I think the reason is that we want to minimize the cognitive dissonance.

We all have been guilty of promoting corruption in some form of other, but our ego defense mechanism says that no you were a victim, you have always wanted this corruption to end. By supporting Anna you are externalizing this problem of corruption, a malaise that is not being promoted by you but you are a victim.
Think again, how many times you had the choice and still chose to bribe to take a shortcut (remember the last time traffic police caught you when you were on phone; or the time when you had got on to the train on a RAC ticket ; or the time when you took your kid to for admission or ….) You never demanded bribe, but you yielded to take an easy route and promoted corruption. Now the moral values book that you teach your kids, the stand in debates that you take, does not go well with what your actions. This has been troubling you at the back of your mind, and the moment someone (Anna) brings up the issue, you feel caught red handed. Ego self defense mechanism kicks in and says, you are with Anna, you have been a victim who has yielded to corruption because of the corrupt system, now with Lokpal it will all end, afterall it’s the panacea to all kind of corruption.

Gandhi said, Be the change you want to see in the world.
Make a choice not to support/promote corruption in day to day life.

I think once you get rid of your guilty conscience (by self awareness) , you will not be blindly supporting the Lokpal, you will try and analyze have realistic fact based discussion on pros and cons of Lokpal, how to increase its efficacy, rather than blindly support it. You will also be able to make your ego collect the courage to exercise the choice of not promoting corruption.

ग़ालिब

मुझ से मत कह तू हमें कहता था अपनी जिंदगी
जिंदगी से भी मेरा ज़ी इन दिनों बेज़ार सा है !

उम्र भर देखा किये मरने कि राह,
मर गए पर देखिये दिखलाये क्या ?

पूछते है वो कि 'ग़ालिब' कौन है ?
कोई बतलाओ कि हम बतलाये क्या ?
- ग़ालिब

Behavioural changes and War

Just reading Locust and grasshopper are same species, its just that grasshopper change shape & form and behaviourally on crowding.
Hmm.. So the enviornment and esp crowding has a lot to do with the behaviour - atleast for locusts.

There are behavioural switches in humans as well, maternal behaviour or PMSing behaviour change is something genetically hardwired in human females (this one deserves a separate blog post for sure). The secration of harmonses changes the person so much, tat it is diffcult to believe that you are dealing with the same individual. There are other non violent behaviour changes driven by environment - I am given to understand that we are even genetically hardwired to reciprocate after being given something.

Speaking of hardwiring of human brain, we are hardwired to survive - at all costs. Even if it means killing others. We kill others to ensure our survival with a utter disregard for their right to survive - (eggs or chicken on day to day and other humans during war times). This is not unique to humans, all animals have this trait, which is is a manifestation of life's most basic instinct of Survival.
This fight for survival is at the base of every fight for territory among animals, or wars that humans fight. War waged by western world for democracy in Libiya or Iraq or against AlQuaida is not all about eagletarian objective - deep down it is a fight for resources , fight for ensuring survival.

So this brings me to the question - are some cultures more violent than others - is it possible that they are more violent because of the kind of genepool that they inherited ?Specifically does this mean Islam is more violent due to what they inherited in gene pool. I dont think so.Evolution is a very very slow process. Islam or any religion for that matter has not been around for enough time to have impacted the genepool.
But then why ar so many muslims all over world sounding like fanatics - not only in Afganistan or kashmir,but even in UK or Delhi for that matter? Even more surprising is the fact that the same person who was a liberal is changing .. becoming somewhat more hardened.

Does it have something to do with crowding - or behaviour of mobs.
War too is a behavioural switch - we (or for that matter any other animal) are not fighting at all times. They are fighting in regions where they are threatened for their survival. Afterall we are genetically programmed /hardwired to fight when we are threatened for survivial. The problem is accentuated all over the world because western world tries to put all muslims in one basket. When fighting against AlQaida in Afghanistan, it should be projected as a fight against the terrorist in a particular region, rather than be projected as a fight against the muslim world.
So any religion / any genepool would behave in the same fashion the way current muslim world does, if they are put in the same situation.

Any thing that really sets "them" apart.. anything that makes western world feel threatened from muslims? yes the fact that their numbers have swelled suddenly, that means your genepool would have lower probability of survival over next few thousand years. You may not take a concious call on it, but you are hardwired for it.

So why was there a sudden increase in population?
One of the precipitating factor that I see, is the fact that muslim world was relatively backword/mired in poverty till recent times. and that meant you have to have more kids for a fair chance of having a offspring surviving to give birth to next generation ( or preserve your gene pool). Sudden discovery of oil meant prosperity coming to the middle east, predominantly to muslims in that region. This meant access to medical facilities, better nutrition and better chances of survival. Since muslims were being clubbed in basket, it meant the middle east muslims start supporting other muslims countries (this would increase thier chance of being able to fight back and survive - incase there is a fight for survival).

There have been wars whenever there has been overcrowding, and a fight for resources. The muslims too fight among themselves, shia vs sunni. For that matter I am told among Hindus as well Shaiv vs Vaishnav riots were common in ancient times. Christians to have had spilled the blood of their fellow christians- religion has got not much to do with our cruel ways.
Infact discovery of America / Australia have taken away the overcrowding from the Europe in a big way.

The behaviour of a mob is very different from the behaviour of individuals. During peace times we all trust each other, during a riot - and esp if there is a possibility of you being impacted, your response would change dramatically.

Just wondering what does this mean for
- India, whose population density is among the highest in the world / and overcrowding is making the resources scarce.
- USA/ developed world - whose territory is being claimed by others.

Gazetteer of Ulwur

http://www.archive.org/stream/gazetteerofulwur00powliala#page/n5/mode/2up
Now this is a wonderful piece of History, written at a time when Alwar was still referred to as Ulwar.

(btw Alwar was formerly known as "Ulwar". This placed it in last position in alphabetically ordered lists, so a king renamed it to "Alwar" to bring it to the top.)

This book happens to have information which I would not ave found on Wikipedia or any other place otherwise.

The future is yours, it belongs to you,

This beautiful verse was on the best of luck card sent to me in 1998 by my Elder brother.

The future is yours, it belongs to you,
And with faith in God
and in yourself, too,
No hill is too high,
no mountain too tall,
For with faith in the Lord,
you can conquer them all...
And all that you wish for
that is honest and true
The Lord will certainly give to you,
Not always the way you most desire
But always He gives
what you most require.

These words inspire a lot of confidence - "Future is yours, it belongs to you".. kind of makes you feel that whatever you are attempting for your future is already yours, all what you have to do is, just claim it.

I also love the way it makes you prepared to accept the results - even if they are not what you had attempted.
"Not always the way you most desire
But always He gives
what you most require."

Accept what has been the result - don't get disheartened - this may not be what you desired but, it is what you actually required - (As judged by God - so don't question that).