On the Mahatma-isation of Gandhi

On Oct 2, India and Indians all over the world observed Gandhi Jayanti – the birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known all over the world as Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma roughly translated the noble one – a sobriquet bestowed upon him by Indians after he passed away. Gandhi was instrumental in India’s struggle for independence from the British. His principle of non-violence even in the face of extreme oppression gained him fame and respect on all corners of the world. Ask an Alaskan to name an Indian and he would probably say Mahatma Gandhi. Notwithstanding that, Gandhi was also responsible for several missteps during the independence struggle. Sadly his non-violent principles led to the decimation of hundreds of hapless, peace-loving folk, predominantly Hindu, in the Nav-khali riots of 1942. Bhagat Singh, a young and dynamic freedom fighter from Punjab, was sentenced by the British to death by hanging with the tacit approval of Gandhi, whose non-violent policies Bhagat Singh eschewed.

Falstaff, in an excellent blog post writes about the making of the mahatma.

Guru Poornima

I am surprised at my prolonged absence from the blogging world. I do not know why it has happened, but I have decided not to let it continue. To resume on an auspicious note, here is a write-up on Guru Poornima I wrote in July for the Mata Amritandamayi Centre in Singapore. My pranams to Swami Chinmayananda and Mata Amritanandamayi for their inspiration and guidance.

Imagine darkness…darkness so dense, so impenetrable, and so nauseous as to suck away our very life force. Now imagine in that darkness a beam of light, thin at first but gradually growing effulgent as to rival the sun itself. How much more will we value that initial thin beam of light, which gave us hope amidst the darkness, lifted our spirits, gave us direction and accustomed our eyes gradually to the effulgence that was to follow?

My dear brothers and sisters, allow me to liken that beam of light to our beloved Guru, Amma. ‘Gu’ in Sanskrit means “darkness of ignorance” and ‘Ru’ means ‘one who removes’. Indeed, Amma’s shining radiance reaches us in these gloomy times, as a much needed ray of solace and enlightenment.  Today is the day we pay obeisance to this beacon of hope and guidance. It’s interesting to note that today is poornima, or full moon day. Here is a personal interpretation why: the full moon is a symbol of perfection, of completeness, of ultimate fulfilment. From its beginnings as the new moon or total darkness – which I would liken to total ignorance – the light of the sun reveals a little of the moon day-by-day until fourteen days later the complete glory of the moon is revealed. I would liken this to Amma, who firmly but with infinite compassion, cleanses us of our negativities until one day we become complete, fully realised and at one with the Eternal. Naturally, once we achieve this state, we shall not wane into nothingness like the moon, or descend into total ignorance.

Guru Poornima is traditionally held on sage Veda Vyasa’s birthday. Veda Vyasa, seeing that in the coming ages men would lack the capacity to learn and retain the Vedas, compiled them into four parts – the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas. He also wrote the Puranas so that the common people could also benefit from the knowledge of the Vedas. He conveyed the same spiritual principles through the medium of stories and parables. He is also the author of the Brahma Sutras, which is the quintessence of Vedanta. So it is fitting that his birthday is celebrated as Guru Poornima.

Ancient India used to follow a guru parampara or lineage where disciples or shishya-s became gurus themselves and continued to pass on the knowledge from generation to generation. If we trace this lineage to its source we find that God himself must have been the first Guru. In today’s world however, this lineage is almost untraceable. Instead, we have been blessed with avatara gurus – gurus who take birth at critical junctures in history in order to redeem dharma or righteousness and effect an all-round spiritual renaissance, as Bhagawan Krishna declared in the Bhagavad Gita (“Yada yada hi dharmasya glaanir bhavati bhaarata; dharma samsthaapanaarthaaya sambhavami yuge yuge”).

Like the sun in the sky, they illuminate the whole world with their glorious light of Divinity. Our beloved Amma belongs to this rare category of gurus, and certainly is the divine answer to the need of an age, rampant with materialism, fear and hostility, and dearth of love among mankind. Her Divine Love and Grace know no barriers. The gates of spirituality are open to all who wish to enter and be awakened to the glory of pure love and supreme wisdom.

For sincere seekers of Truth, the Guru is the embodiment of their goal. The Guru is nothing but Sat-Chit-Aananda –pure consciousness, absolute bliss and eternal wisdom. Anyone who can elicit a continual feeling of faith and devotion in us is our Guru. However, self-redemption must ultimately come from with us. The external props, such as temples, deities and gurus, are all encouragements and aids. They must be intelligently used to help build up inner perfection. Liken it to the new moon, which positions itself so that it can receive more of the sun’s light with every passing day.

With inner purity, the student becomes increasingly guided by the intellect. In fact, the real guru is the pure intellect within; the purified, deeply aspiring mind is the disciple. When we come to deserve a Guru, the Guru shall reach us. Let us stick to spiritual practices; be good, kind and sincere. Let us refine our motives by building life upon the enduring values of love, mercy, charity and purity. Through constant remembrance of the Lord, we will rise in spirituality.

Guru Poornima is a day for celebration and worship – a day on which we remember our teachers, both spiritual and academic. None of us would be where we are right now without the guidance of our teachers in school and at home, our parents. Let us express our gratitude towards them.

On this auspicious occasion of Guru Poornima, we offer our salutations and love at the lotus feet of love incarnate, Amma, the Jagat Guru, teacher of the universe, Jagat Janani, mother of the universe, and to the illustrious Gurus of the great Guru parampara.    

I Ate iPod shuffle

Brilliant poem, inspired by a marketing footnote on Apple's site during the initial days of the iPod shuffle launch.

I Ate iPod shuffle (You are encouraged to donate via PayPal at the poet's site if you like the poem.

No need to make a big kerfuffle.
But yes, I ate my iPod shuffle.

The websites warned me not to, sure.
But sometimes one must ask: Wherefore?

Its sleek design was so damn sweet,
It just looked good enough to eat.

So icy smooth, so creamy white,
It applesauced my appetite.

So bite-sized, so petite and cute,
Made by a company named for fruit,

Its product name based on a veggie
(Prefixed with "i" to make it edgy),

And even the site I bought it from
Said: smaller than a pack of gum.

Such was the power of suggestion
That all signs pointed to: ingestion.

I hungrily sat down to start
My iPod shuffle à la carte.

I shut off my Sad-Cube-Drone Mix,
Impaled the 'Pod on two toothpicks,

And faster than a Mac reboot,
I tossed it back like escargoot!

It really tasted quite fantastic
(Apple's peeps use primo plastic),

Evincing a refined bouquet
Of silicon and Chardonnay.

(Nutritionally sound, I think,
With RDAs of iron and zinc.)

And plus my tunes were spread - sublime! -
With rich Nutella, and sweet Lime.

(Unlike the bad taste left in, say,
The mouths of the R.I.A.A.)

In all, quite pleasing on the palate.
If less so to my empty wallet.

But soon that meal of small machine
Began to make me feel non-keen.

My stomach first began to churn,
Thus redefining Rip-Mix-Burn;

I then broke out in sweats and chills,
Got #oh-eff-oh around the gills,

And then began hallucinatin':
I worked in tech support for Satan!

He growled to me in tones satanic
I'd soon be dead of kernel panic,

And then would, for eternity,
Help sinners find the "Any" key.

These visions made me cower and quake,
Like something out of William Blake -

(Tiger! Tiger! burning bright,
Searching hard drives in Spotlight,

What immortal hand or eye
Improved thy fearful G.U.I.?)

- My point is, I was suffering from
Severe ctrl-alt-delirium.

As I began to fade to black
(My best impression of Sad Mac),

I saw within some colored blobs
The floating face of old Steve Jobs!

His voice resounded like a god:
How DARE you dare defile iPod!

You're not supposed to eat that thing!
Just swallow all the MARKETING!

Yes, choke down all the Day-and-Chiat!
But cough that iPod up, you shiat!

The iPod shuffle's not a snack!
Don't make me go get Wozniak!

Then faster than a broadband pipe,
He vanished in a flash of hype.

I came to, after hours of resting,
The iPod shuffle still digesting.

It's since become a part of me.
That's why I write so randomly.

(What really makes my girlfriend swoon:
She prods me right, I change my tune!)

I never heeded Steve's command.
In fact, I think I helped his brand -

The ergonomic single-serve
And random-ordered hot hors d'oeuvre:

Next time you need a snacky-treat,
Think different - iPod appetit.

King Khan Lajawab?

Shah Rukh Khan (aka SRK) is rarely tongue-tied, but it appears Pixar and Disney has managed to curb his loquacity. SRK dubs for the Hindi version of The Incredibles, Pixar's new animation due in early November. He will play the role of a former superhero Lajawab who's dragged back from retirement to save the day yet again. It wouldn't be too different from the roles he normally plays in Hindi film. What is interesting is Disney investing quite a bit in getting a well-known voice for an animated film. Just imagine the poster: The Incredibles starring SRK! And the moviegoing audience will be none the wiser till they get to the theatre.

Lajawab, btw, means "tongue-tied".

Homecoming

It doesn't pay to start a blog on a negative note. But this one has to. Until 10 October, 2004, ribaldmusings was hosted at mblog.com. On Oct 11, mblog.com pulled the plug on their services without any notification. They demanded USD35 to send me the archives. I refused to accept the demand. Yes, they hosted my blog for free. Yes, I accepted their agreement saying they reserve the right to terminate services without any notification. But no, I do not acquiesce to blackmail, which is what they are doing, plain and simple. And yes, that means I lose all my posts created over the past months, most of them original writings or comments on linked articles. I also lose the fruit of many hours laboured over customisation of the blog. But no, it is the principle of it all. If they had given sufficient notification, about their 'troubles' as they claim, I would have archived the contents myself (essentially, a one-click operation). Their means to extort money from users in order to recoup losses is unacceptable. I should have detected something amiss when they did not upgrade to MT 3.0, as they had declared they would. They now claim they were unable to 'reach an agreement with MT', whatever that means. I am not interested. I enjoyed a free service, but there is something called public decency. On hindsight, I should have seen this coming. Owned and operated by a commercial software company (Inficron Technologies), it was perhaps too much of a good thing to expect it be run free in perpetuity. They could always claim 'commercial viability' as a catch-all to justify any action. Enough of ranting.

So ribaldmusings returns to the blogger fold. Those with elephantine memories, mine not withstanding, would know that what is now Film-I began as ribaldmusings at blogspot. mBlog then lured me to MT and ribaldmusings moved over. Now the prodigal son returns. ribaldmusings returns for good, or at least for the foreseeable future. My colleague Anol, of SoulSoup fame, who was also affected by mBlog's perfidy, warned against going with a free blog provider yet again. But I trust Google, and I trust Blogger.

"Mama, I'm home," ribaldmusings says.