an inquiry into when opposites meet and where and how

When "doing" something as natural and as intuitive as being yourself is some what of a "hindrance" to the discovery of your true Self - Atma - Brahman, there is a pressing need to explore what is the search, what is the object of the search and what are the tools employed for the search and ultimately why the search is unsuccessful.

There is an underlying presumption that there is an "object" to be seen, touched, understood, there is a "subject" who is the doer of this so called "action" and there is the "event" or verb or action itself. 

Every "understanding" seems to occur only with the help of  a "pointing" by the subject toward the object. Mathematically speaking, every counting starts with the numeric 1. 

I am starting to fear that this so called "pointing" and understanding (whose numeric equivalent is 1  and whose abstract "name" equivalent is "X" for the purpose of this blog) is fundamentally flawed. 

And here's why I think it is flawed -  Just like how 1+1 becomes 2 and 2+1 becomes 3 or 3+1 becomes 4 and so on. And in abstract terms, "X" that is being pointed at is different from another "Y" which is different from yet another "Z" and so on. This pointing has no end. This understanding has no end. And what is infinitely worse seems futile.

So, the question is when do I realize there is no difference between a "1" and a "2" - when I realize the need/desire/urge to count is unnecessary and simply stop counting. 

And similarly, in abstract terms. when does the difference between a "X" and a "Y" stop to exist - when the "pointing" stops.

The quote from Dr. Paul Brunton "We have yet to learn to be for we have already learnt to do" suddenly shows up in my mind presenting a whole other picture about when, how and where opposites are likely to meet!!

In dedication to the Selfless Karna!!

I recently heard the following two amazing anecdotes about Karna (#1) - if not for anything else, for my own future reference, I wanted to pen them down here.

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Lord Krishna (#2) while Karna was bathing cast His eye on a small beautiful cup which contained bathing oil and asked Karna for the cup. Without second thoughts, Karna simply handed the cup over to Krishna using his left hand**. Krishna immediately asked Karna how he could hand over something using his left hand. The answer from Karna prompted me to write this blog. He said "Oh Krishna, as you saw, the hand closest to the cup was my left hand, by the time, I brought my right hand over to the cup, who knows, may be, my mind might have changed. I couldn't risk that - that's why I gave the cup immediately to you using my left hand"

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Arjuna's rivalry with Karna is as center to the Mahabharata as the main epic itself. Krishna always praised Karna openly. This had always bothered Arjuna (#3)... 

Once an old Brahmin who had just lost his wife came to Arjuna to seek something. He wanted to cremate his beloved dead wife using sandalwood. But, he couldn't find dry sandalwood as it had been raining heavily. He asked Arjuna to help him out. Arjuna promptly called out to his helpers and sent them out to look out and bring back dry sandalwood immediately. They went away in search but after a while returned empty handed. Arjuna turned to the old brahmin and apologetically said to him that he was unable to help him.

After a few days, Arjuna and Krishna, met the same brahmin and Krishna inquired if he was able to find dry sandalwood later. The brahmin responded "Oh yes, I found it later. After meeting with Arjuna, I went to Karna and requested him for dry sandalwood. Without second thought, he tore down a pillar in his palace on his own, quickly chopped it into pieces and asked me if that much was enough to cremate his wife. There is no one more charitable than Karna." 

Hearing the old Brahmin sing the praise of Karna embarrassed Arjuna and along with it brought the understanding for why Karna was always praised by Krishna.

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==> I have been recently inspired and have embarked on a journey of reading the great Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata (in EN of course, sadly) - I hope to write more anecdotes here soon.

Some references:

#1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karna

#2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna

#3 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arjuna

**  It is considered grossly disrespectful to give something using your left hand especially to someone worthy of respect

....of responsibilities and relationships....

I think its about time that I accepted my responsibility and calling to write about relationships and responsibilities having procastinated this for about nine months (for those of you who don't get the frame of reference here, I got married in November 2014)

...you don't buy every car you like, you certainly don't buy every car you see, you MOST CERTAINLY cannot afford to buy every car that you may prefer to drive...

Yes, I'm keeping this blog really as simple as possible because I fear the topic on hand is extremely important and hence the need to be lucid... ...

Continuing from earlier...you must weigh and value each relationship that you are in and its associated inseparable responsibility...how much can you afford really?? and how much of it do you really want??

I have reached the conclusion without any doubt that the most dangerous and un-necessary relationship/responsbility combination is the one you have with your mind. An object, a sound that in reality must simply be ignored like you every time hear a car honk on any Madras road.

Seriously, it possesses not even a smidgen of sense of reason, there is TOTAL absence of any sense of logic whatsoever. Please note, mind and brain are separate in my view. Physically, they may be neighbors or twins but they do or not-do completely different functions.

How can a relationship that ONLY keeps taking and NEVER gives anything in return be worth having?? Relationship with a mind that NEVER accepts any responsibility, NEVER decides anything, CONSTANTLY confuses, CONSTANTLY orders you do stuff is just like a over-worked, under-paid job with a horrible unreasonable manager - that is waiting for you to simply QUIT!!

PLEASE think about this relationship with your minds and decide how much of it can actually be endured and IGNORE the rest like those endless, needless car honks on Indian roads.....! ;-)