Sunday, August 16, 2009

MOVE series - Aug 09 - Bypass

Move Series Aug 09. – By-pass


There is this anecdote about Arun Shourie; as a youngster, he was one of the speakers in a function. By the time his turn came, he realized that they were all terribly behind schedule, and on his own, tried to skip portions of his prepared speech, when he was asked politely to make it very brief!!.

The chief guest was however very kind and said he did not mind Arun taking time; Arun obliged and re-read his entire speech, from the beginning, and without omissions!!

There is this other anecdote about Rajaji; when Nehru was in doubt, about something he could not get Jinnah to agree with, Rajaji was alleged to have told him that he can just by-pass Jinnah.

These came to my mind, when Naresh, Ganesh, Anand, and finally Umashankar, all came on board of “jignyaasaa” paying flattering tributes to my ability to write, asking me to continue to contribute, and the need to keep the blog alive and relevant.

Like Arun Shourie, I took it as a cue to get back to my long winding, and meanderingly maverick style of writing about anything that came to my mind. The recent setbacks to health to Jinji, &Gulpa, especially “by-pass” took me to Rajaji. I found to my surprise some great possibilities, in this word, which could fill up a column. Do I need any more prompting? So here I am. What is the moral of the story? Be parsimonious with your appreciative responses to mavericks, lest you land up in peril. It’s too late anyway………..

The word “bypass” used as a noun, probably means a secondary route when the mains are blocked, and used as a verb, can mean avoiding, or going round. Based on these let me try and capture, some of the known and my own maverick additions to instances of these bypasses.

When a highway passes thru a city, we have a bypass, skirting the city to allow free flow of traffic.
When an artery is blocked, the doctor just puts a bypass, allowing free flow of blood.
When schools fail to deliver, we use a bypass called training institutes.
When the govt fails to deliver on even primary education to children, it uses a bypass called a “right to education bill” to rope in pvt schools with quota mandates.
Bhakhthi is one of the sublime means to reach Him, and when it is found difficult, we use a bypass called “bhajanai”
With gurukuls losing their leitmotif, we have gurus coming up with a bypass, marketing everything from the most mundane to the ultimate nirvana, to any and everyone, for a fee of course.

We can add quite a few other vichiisms to this list, but this should suffice. Whilst I was reflecting on these lines, it struck me that the word, or rather what this word denotes, offers quite a few answers to my own “jignyasaa” for finding a purpose/meaning, for our lives. (Quite maverick?) Let me elaborate:

The nishkama karma path (on which a great emphasis has been laid by our seers) in its traditional meaning of the term, denotes, a right only to one’s actions without any expectation of an outcome. This has been given another beautiful interpretation by Arun, namely enjoying one’s action, without a great emphasis on outcomes.

What is it that comes in the way, of following this dictum? As Umashankar once said, there is no meter to guage one’s spiritual progress. The temporal world, on the other hand has patently visible parameters to judge progress. Even the Gods while blessing, give you all the goodies which have a huge meaning in this temporal world.

Therefore inevitably any judgment on the success of any action has an undue bias towards material benefits. To discard desires therefore is not so easy. Spiritual progress however mandates slow elimination of this; so how anyone desiring spiritual nirvana, hope to get rid of this very potent and immensely powerful allurement? The word “bypass” suddenly springs up in mind. Let me explain:

The spiritual progress ends in our merging ourselves unto Him. Just like when there are traffic jams one takes another route or a bypass, if you have a denial of temporal successes, or anything is coming in your way of enjoying your actions, try and bypass or ignore those red herrings.. Gods, I am sure would not bypass anyone; methinks, if one attempts at such “nishkama karma”.

It is in this context, the “yadyath karma karomi thadhakilam, Shambo, thava aaradhanam” piece comes to mind. (Every action of mine Shambo, is my humble salutations to you). This ultimate form of Bhakhthi, or total saranaagathy, is nothing but outsourcing everything to Him, and in this form, there is total absence of any desire, for any fruits of actions, as every action is “His will” kind of surrender, which leaves one in “peace”.

I seem to be fascinated/mesmerized/ elevated/overwhelmed by this kind of selfless, sublime bhakhthi, primarily because, my knowledge in temporal terms decidedly, is less than adequate and satisfactory, and these in no way come in as handicaps, in my quest to find a meaning to my existence and know/reach Him………

Like it folks?

Love

sVichu








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3 comments:

  1. Can I refrain from the desire to comment on vichu athan's blog?
    My take on "bypass" is that it is an imploration to "pass-by" one's perceived obstacles in the temporal world.
    For this God allows a bypass(or caveat, if you will) called "Post Hoc Rationalisation" (the term is attributed to NNT)through a tool, which, He in his infinite wisdom has granted to all human beings (indeed all living beings)- a tool for thought - our mind.
    If we use it in pursuit of goals of the temporal world, then the tool is conserved (meaning only the remainder is available for the spiritual world).
    If we dedicate even a iota of this tool to the endless pursuit of His name, first, then Bhakti happens and all laws of conservation are disproved.
    Love,
    Naresh

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  2. Hi Chittappa

    I found the linking of bypass to Saranaagathy a little maverick :). But yes, if we can bypass (simply set aside / ignore) all the difficulties / disappointments we face in the temporal world, I think it will do a world of good to our paripakkuam and spiritual progress.

    Naarayanaa

    Shankar

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  3. Thanks. I seem to be making some progress. Nothing soothes your angst better than words of empathy.

    Why are we missing out on these small mercies, and not partake more and more on such "satsangams" unless the temporal responsibilities and its alluringly enjoyable nature, makes it difficult?

    Perhaps, I am being unfair, why or who am I to assume that non-participation in any way construes, any temporal attraction, or that my talking about my unease in any way represents an elevated spiritual/eternal "jignyaasaa"?

    May God be with every one of us.

    Love

    Vichu

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