(Munna Bhai + Ravi Shankar) + Peace

Disclaimer: Any similarity with 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai' is purely coincidental. Only while writing this I saw the same format. But even if I was motivated by that I wouldn't have mind, because that concept is worth plagiarising. BTW for the people who have not seen Munna Bhai and are Indians (I really hope one day my blogs will be read internationly) either you go and watch this movie this weekend or .. well .. SUCK MY BALLS!!!

I was talking to my one of my friends who had recently gone to bangalore to attend lectures by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Of Art of Living fame). He told me about the kind of questions people ask him and his answers. I also unconsciously started framing questions which I would have asked him or for that matter any spiritual Guru. Questions on EVERYTHING. And back of my mind I was also framing answers: To this question he will definitely say something like this and to that question something like that. So the point is that I could actually conceive that what a Guru might answer to my questions. And the important thing is that I was actually convinced.

I have tried to frame answers on many of my questions since then. And the reason why this protocol makes sense is because all these questions are genuine and honest and all these answers though given by me myself are something that I KNOW but do not REALIZE, something I have EATEN but still not DIGESTED, something I will like to PREACH but don't FOLLOW myself. All these answers are by the way my interpretation of everything I have read / listened / talked about. Or let me put in a mathematical format. MyInterpration(('EveryThingRead' - 'ThingsIDontBeleive' - 'ThingsIDidNotUnderstand') + ThoughtsOfPeopleIHaveConversedWithOnTheseThings + MyLifeExperiences)

Topic for today is PEACE & HARMONY

Question 1. Guru Ji, I am very disturbed when I hear about Bombay Blasts or other acts of violence or terrorism. How can a Human kill a fellow Human? Where has all the Love gone? Will it ever stop?

Guru Ji. Hmmm ... there are a few things that you need to understand and contemplate on.
* When you say you get disturbed, do you mean 'afraid' too? Afraid of death which seems so inevitable when you see the falling twin towers? Do you think it may happen to you too? Don't you get disturbed when you see a car smashed up into a truck on a highway? Isn't it? So first of all you have to identify this fear and start viewing these incidents with out any personal fears.
* When you hear about a blast in Bombay it gets registered with you but what about daily killings in Iraq? Does that bother you too? I know it does but is it with the same intensity? Does a massacre in Darfur gives you the same chill? No, it doesn't because a blast in Delhi on Diwali is an attack on YOU. Its not the violence which is disturbing you its the violence against the ME in YOU. Try not to be selfish. It doesn't mean that if you are an Indian you go and solve the Middle East conflict, you have to solve Kashmir but you got to have a same sympathetic stand towards other such crisis too.
* Be hopeful and be practical too. The World has seen its biggest conflict of its entire history just a half century back. Terrorism is a direct out come of that War or an outcome of the Cold War which was again the outcome of the second world war. Be practical in realizing that the dust will take time to settle. But at the same time be hopeful that this violence will end for good some day. And by end I mean END, not that just its shape will change. Hope that the World will not find yet another reason to fight, a common enemy (It was for imperialist colonies first, then it was Socialism and now its Islam.)

* Gauge your first thoughts that come to your mind when you hear such news. Is it of Hate? Or of helplessness? Beware of this. You should be like Mahatma Gandhi, if you truly believe in Truth and Non Violence, these incidents should strengthen your convictions that is if you truly believe in these values. And never think its easy to do. If it was we would have had so many Jesus Christs, Buddhas and Gandhis.

Question 2. Guruji, can I personally do anything about it? Even though I am not a politician, not in Army or Police, and not even a religious guru who can sell love and non violence. Do I have any 'For your action' points?

Guru Ji Good question. First you have to realize the power of a single YOU, i.e. understand that even you can make a difference. And second I will tell you What to do.
* When you go to beach and buy a Pepsi bottle, don't you throw it in a bin? Or do you see so much waste lieing there, throw the bottle in the waves and say 'How does one more bottle matter'!! No, you don't do it because you feel responsible.
And when you go to your Living room from your Bed room, don't you switch off the Fan? You do it not because it will increase the electricity bill, but because you feel responsible. I can give you so many examples like these.
Similarly you have to believe that even a single person and his single act can change the entropy of the world by some delta. You don't have to be a Gandhi for this. Its a scientific fact that all the events are interrelated. And anything that a single person do does affect everything.

* Now coming to WHAT YOU CAN DO. All acts of violence occur due to lack of LOVE, and due to a FALSE EGO. Ego of being a Hindu or Muslim, of being an Indian or Pakistani, Higher Caste - Lower Caste, Ladke wale Ladki wale, and what not. So be in a state of Love and kill your ego.
If you are a Punjabi, then stop being arrogant about it. Be proud of it but not arrogant. Or for that matter, be proud of being an Indian but not jingoist. Now you will ask how do I differentiate between the two? You see so many egs. around you. The attitude of a cricketer towards a footballer. Of a classical singer towards a painter. A Linux developer towards a Windows User. Don't you see a mutual respect in these relations? (Well, I am not sure about the last example!!) Isn't such a relation possible between a Punjabi and a Tamilian?
When ever an auto wala in Chennai doesn't talk to you in Hindi, DON'T SAY: "Holy Crap, why don't these fuckers know their national language".
When ever a group of Northies get together in Chennai their favorite topic of discussion is "Chennai Sucks". Stop participating in these conversations.
You may like to eat what ever you want to, but DO NOT start cursing at the sight of Curd Rice or at the smell of Sambhar.
All these examples may sound very context specific, but they are the real life examples from your life where you are over whelmed by hatred towards an entity. All the Hate around you is the permutation and combination of manifestations of this same concept. And this very hatred turns into violence when taken to extreme. So, you got the point.

Question 3. Haha, Guru ji, what the crap are you talking about, do you think that if I go and celebrate Pongal, it will solve the Kashmir dispute?

Guru Ji (smiling a Krishnas-I-know-it-all kind off a smile): Yes.