Krishna

The setting wasn't something I'd have expected to find in the midst of a large gathering of bositerous crowd for a street festival. There was too much going around that plundered the senses. Yet it was the many ecstatic devotees chanting their mantra who made it almost impossible for two people to have a conversation.
I asked him nevertheless.
"Summarize Gita for me in one sentence"
"That's a tough ask", he said. He thought for some time.
"I can try in three very short ones, if you like"
I was happy for him to take a shot at it.
"I do not love anything. I do not hate anything. I am everything". He looked into my face and probably found mild apprehension. "Makes sense?"
"And the 'I' is Krishna, I suppose"
"Yes and, everything else as you can figure from the last sentence" he said
"And who is Krishna?"
"That's an incorrect question. The correct one will be to ask 'What'"
"Ok. So what is Krishna?"
"Krishna is the Consciousness"
He smiled and went back to join his mates in the chanting before I could close the conversation more formally.
Tiresome short trips to lands that are thousands of miles away. And then the small mercies

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The solitary reaper (of grief)

"I have nothing to gain" The woman was probably in her late fifties. She had kind eyes and a smile that can be best described as sad. She was reclining against one of the poles of a ragtag makeshift tent. A variety of pieces of cloth were laid on the ground with different vegetables arranged or sorted in no particular order. The place was literally the middle of nowhere, at least from my perspective. Somewhere along the way as I drove from one small town to another, places that were well away from Hyderabad to be considered remote though not too far from it. The winter sun was kind yet scorching and it was still early in the noon. As I drove through multiple tiny hamlets, I stopped at this lady's makeshift store hoping to buy some good quality vegetables that are farm fresh. I had to ask her if she got them from Hyderabad to sell because then they would be from some freezer and can no way be called fresh. "I will tell you which ones are fresh and which ones are not.
Read more

Ari - The dance or the Dancer?

Image
*Takeaways from a trek to Fungni Top with trekkenture * The desire for this, the lust for that  wandering of the mind hither and tither  Oh, the lure of gratification instant   And yet, should I indulge in the dance or focus on the dancer?  The cast in stone opinions and lenses of “my” hues  When challenged, causing uncontrolled rage and anger  Oh, the unbridled love for self-made world views  And yet, should I indulge in the dance or focus on the dancer? The desperate hanging on to relationships ephemeral,  Confusing between love and obsessive care  Oh, the letting loose of imagination feral And yet, should I indulge in the dance or focus on the dancer?  The clinging to things material  Accumulating more for now and forever  Oh, the meaningless pursuits of life unreal  And yet, should I indulge in the dance or focus on the dancer? Who else but I, claims the mighty ego  Busy covering the truth with masks superior  Oh, the love for me that wouldn’t let go  And yet, should I
Read more

SVCHS - School Vth CHaracter(S) !

I come from a big small school in Hyderabad, Andhra pradesh. The school went by the name "Swami Vivekananda Centenary High School" and was a fascinating place. It was small because the cost of education was minimal and affordable to all the middle class families aspiring to good education for their kids. It was big because it had (at least during the time I studied there) very good human beings as teachers, large play grounds and an elaborate ritual to begin the day with. The ritual included a unique prayer praising Sri Ramakrishna, followed by Jana Gana Mana and finally, for reasons unknown, some drill with one kid yelling "Stand at Ease" and "Attention" for all the other kids to play around with their feet in amusement. This ritual in the play ground was followed by a walk back to the class and a loud reading of the ' pledge' in each class room and then, the day commenced. If the head master had an announcement to make, he'd walk into the
Read more