MEDITATION WITH/WITHOUT EYES CLOSED

From the pen APN

Closing my eyes I tried my utmost to silence many incoherent thought-waves that were appearing in my mind. I reclined on a revolving chair in the lecturer’s common room and slowly sank into the deeper realms of my being. I journeyed deeper and deeper into my being and became oblivious of time and my surroundings.

Breathing deeply I collected myself and consoled myself for being alive.Now I thanked the providence because I was not dead and above all I had some more time to live my life and follow my dreams. I slowly opened my eyes. The wall clock hanging above the world map in the common room told that it was mid-day.I saw the college peon, a man in his forties, dusting the office files and papers. He was completely absorbed in his own job. He had no time to read my mental reactions. Moreover, he did not know that I was observing him. I saw him and found that there was a rare level of satisfaction surrounding his face. He was lost in his wok and his satisfaction was nothing but the mark of his complete absorption in his job. He was truly meditating while on duty-the true karma yogi.

I told myself that I shut my eyes and need silence to experience meditation. However, he makes meditation happen in his normal activities by showing single-minded dedication to his duty.

Means differ but the goal is same.

A realization that came up while Googling

From the pen APN

 

In the last few years my brain has learnt not to depend on memory but to rely on Google. It is devastating as I know but the ease of not consuming my brain is highly alluring as compared to press my palms on my cheek and then wreck my brain for a piece of information. Searching through Google is like firing a guided missile to its target which has both speed and accuracy but remembering facts is like throwing a knife at the target by hand. In the latter case there may be hit or miss if you are not adept in your art. And perfecting an art is a matter of great effort and practice.

Now the question is how many of us would like to master the art of remembering things by proper training of their minds. Very few will devote their time to build a razor-sharp memory. It is because no one will like to travel on a bicycle by straining physically i.e. pushing the paddles, if he/she has the resources of traveling on Mercedes Benz. Although paddling on the cycle strengthens your muscles and lengthens your stamina, the journey by a car is preferred. The undeniable fact of life is that we are very much comfort loving.

As a citizen of the poorest of the poor state like Odisha (which is also in some way self-labelled) I easily find countless examples which can be cited to explain the dangerous height of human love for comfort and laziness. One of the brighter examples is our present complacent life with rice @ Rs 1 per kg. Similarly, importing bulk amounts of fish, potatoes, onion, etc from neighboring states to nourish our love for comfort has left us at the mercy of others. Our LAZINESS is slanting down the curve of our state’s economic growth and we are likely to make ourselves the worst beggars of a nation. 

At such a juncture, do not we need a change in our attitude or acts? 

Buddha Purnima

“All knowledge depends on the calmness of mind.”

                                                                                                                            -Swami Vivekananda

From the pen APN

14^th May, 2014

A mid-summer’s evening. The moon was big, bright and silvery. The low-height thick branches of a dwarf cashew tree cast a prominent shadow on the field where I was standing. I was standing and enjoying the beauty of the moon, the stars and the sky.

Then I felt close to the earth in my heart and I sat on the ground with my legs crossed. I closed my eyes. I forgot myself and I could see that one law is governing all. All anxieties died away, all troubles vanished and a deep sense of calmness prevailed.   

In the sky above, the moon was shinning and the field was glowing to me with the new understanding of life.

I am no Buddha but the day was Buddha Purnima and the moon whispered into my ears that I should enjoy the flow of life effortlessly because there is a law of Nature supreme to all. Understanding it makes life the very embodiment of peace.

A presiding officer’s diary

FROM THE PEN APN 

Case1

An illiterate woman entered into the voting compartment and got utterly confused after she saw the sophisticated ballot unit of the EVM. What to press for what-she could not comprehend. The next voter stood waiting but the woman was still in the compartment undone. The polling officers, staying outside the compartment, tried to make her understand the act of pressing a switch against her preferred symbol/candidate.

Many onlookers were restless at the enormous delay. The polling was halted. And then to the surprise of all a beep sound was heard. The polling officers along with some aware voters shouted in joy, “Oh Ma, it is done! It is done!” And now that woman came out of the compartment happily beaming with a smile of utter satisfaction.

As a presiding officer I wanted to record that joy and smile of that woman on my presiding officer’s diary but that official format of diary which was supplied to us did not have space to record the enormous aspirations with which an illiterate woman of India voted.

The right to vote is priceless......

For 5 years you will pay taxes and in return you will get a single chance to press a button on EVM. But I failed to understand the importance of casting my vote. As a presiding officer I conducted election in an interior pocket of my state but I missed my voting right because I was too lazy to fill my forms for postal vote.

Looking at the joyful face of the lady I thought that I was really doing a commendable job.

Case2

A young boy came into the polling station wearing a green shirt and green trousers. So he looked like a bunch of tall and green rice plants. Seeing him I asked, “Is it your first time to cast your vote?” He smiled and nodded his head in affirmation. The first polling officer checked his identity and found everything correct. When he allowed the young voter to cast his vote I looked at the boy and wished, “Go and press the right button so that my country becomes all green like the colour which you have chosen to cover yourself in.” All my polling officers realised that we now need rapid progress.

Case3

A talkative woman, perhaps a teacher, came to the polling station. She completed all the formalities of a voter that is required before casting her vote. She showed her voter’s id for identity check.  She signed on the voter’s register. But she stopped at the second polling officer and vehemently objected to apply the indelible ink mark on her nails. I was called in to see the matter. I asked the lady why she refused to have the ink mark. She answered me, “The ink takes a long time to remove and it will diminish her beauty.” I was dumb-found. I took some time to keep my composure and then gave a strict order, “No ink mark means there is no access to the voting compartment.” The lady shouted at me. She told, “I will see you. How can you debar me from casting my vote after all I have already signed on the voter’s register?” This time I lost my patience and in the most solid voice I declared, “Under rule 49, I have every right to debar you from the polling station.”

However, she was allowed to cast her vote when she agreed to follow the rules of voting procedure. After she left the polling station, the polling agents revealed that the lady once faced a road accident and she behaved abnormally after that accident.

A chunk of my life.....

From the pen APN

In the morning at about 7 o’clock, I switched on my laptop. The translucent aero theme of windows7 gleamed on the monitor.

With the opening up of the operating system my brain also restarted. My hands were at rest on the keyboard and at the same time my wife brought the morning tea in a special mug. The mug was special because it was coated with a beautiful photo of my wife or, in other words, the photo of my only son’s mother. The mug was presented to me as a Valentine’s Day gift this year.

Sipping my tea one or two times I started writing and listening to a specific song which I often listen when I am at home. I closed my eyes contemplatively and stretched my back on the revolving chair on which I was sitting. In my mental eyes the face of Mr. Kundu appeared. Yesterday I had met him. He was on his way to Tarlakota, a village in Malkangiri district. He, after a long career of teaching as a subject expert in English, now devotes some of his time for imparting quality education to the tribal students of Malkangiri. When I saw him at Govindapally (My work station) yesterday, my joys knew no bound.

He is a very outgoing person capable of engaging his audience with his unique dramatic styles. This time, white beard had covered his face. He had become little older than he was when I had met him last. He got down from the vehicle. He was in a pair of blue denim jeans and his feet were covered by a pair of sleepers. He looked like a social worker. The meeting was made very short because the heat of sun compelled us to part soon. I waved my hands and they moved away from me sitting in the vehicle.

Life goes on with its little surprises, small achievements, simple joys and little pains.

Yesterday I was returning from Jeypore to Govindapally. On the way I halted at a spot because that place reminded me of someone who was once a close colleague of mine. It was the very place where, one evening, that colleague’s motor cycle had got punctured and I had attended him with a rescue team.

Some places, some songs and some people suddenly remind you of some life’s incidents so strongly that you go speechless for a while. And then you take a little time to come out of the strong influences of those past memories.

That is why, somebody has rightly said, “With the right music, you either forget everything or you remember everything.”