Friday, May 7, 2010

Experience!!!

I had wanted to scribble one of my recent thoughts but could not find time. However, yesterday I mustered courage and did a thing, which washed away my earlier thoughts and instilled some new thoughts.
Its worth while to mention both though.
The earlier thought is about fear. It was the time during my childhood when I started practicing to ride bicycle. I used to rent bicycle for an hour or two, and ride all through our neighbouring area. The main road near our place is quite busy with all kind of vehicles and there is a down hill road which is crowded with people, shops and vehicles. This road also leads to my school. My father had asked me not to go there as it is completely packed and being a new learner he finds it to be a risky place to ride. Also riding on the down hill road needs some experience. I am an AaKo(ஆர்வ கோளறு) - one who is always interested in trying new things in our local slang. I wanted to ride on the main road and on the down hill road. I took that as a challenge for my experience(!) in cycling. One fine evening, I rented the bicycle and rode on the main road and down hill road. Though butterflies were flying in my stomach then, I was proud and happy that I had become an experienced cyclist(!) who could go through busy roads. There is a saying in Tamil, "இளம் கன்று பயம் அறியாது" - Calfs are not afraid and roam around as they like. As I have the habit of telling truth, I told my father about my achievement(!) and mentioned that I will go to school by bicycle from then. My father excused me for my bicycle venture and warned me that I have to grow big before going to school by bicycle. However its a different story that I pacified him and started riding on the main road and going to school by bicycle.
Now, my university and office are near to our home so that I can go by bicycle. There is a down hill road (similar to the one I rode during my childhood), which has to be crossed while coming from my university & office to home. I was a bit reluctant to cross it with bicycle. I had the fear, that if something happened to me, then I would not be able to take care of Barathraam. Though I may cite that as a reason, I also had a thought whether it is possible for me to cross such a down hill road. This incident made me think, that are people in general as they grow old are reluctant to take risks and try new things? For example, our parents are a bit hesitant to try the new technology and gadgets, though they are not risky. The courage I had during my childhood waned away now.
Though atleast I could accept that our parents have different interests now rather than trying out such things, I cannot accept my fear to cross the down hill road. I have not become so old that I should refrain from taking such risks.

My current thought is about experience! Yes, yesterday I mustered courage as I did during my childhood and crossed the down hill road. It was not as risky as I thought and that made me realize that things are always not as risky as we perceive it. Its only our mindset which limits us from taking such risks. And by venturing such tasks, we can keep our mind young. Once I experienced crossing the down hill by cycling, its no longer fear for me.
Thus its the courage and experience which will remove the fear from us. Ah, how great are the saints, sages and seers for they have experienced the Ultimate Truth. We (atleast me) still have the fear or being hesitant to take efforts to experience Ultimate Truth. I hope that I overcome that fearness or hesitancy, and experience the Truth.
Though such thoughts moves around in my mind always, it gets reemphasized during such incidents.
Thanks to God for making me face such incidents.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Is being regular a sense of boredom or proud consistency?!

I could still vividly remember my childhood days, when my grandmother would ask me to write down the list of groceries to be purchased for the forthcoming month. She would think of all those functions and festivals impending that month and the special items that would be needed then. We rarely experienced any shortage in grocery during the month and have hardly went to shop to buy something that got over. Though I reflect upon such acts now and trying hard to inherit it, at that time I found this regular activity of scribbling down the list as a boring one. But, now not only I admire her planning but also her consistency in doing it every single month!

I used to think (saying myself a radical thinker ;-)) that being regular usually is not interesting and mostly gets bored after sometime. However now I realise that being regular is not boring for all activities. Ofcourse, regular repeated cooking recipes would bore me and I like to have variety in cooking dishes. Earlier the moment when I hear routine tasks, for example the daily chores we do in our day to day life, I feel somewhat uninteresting. There are times when I used to ask my mom how she could cook for all three times a day, everyday! Isn't it a boring one..
When I started cooking, initially I too felt the same, but slowly din't find it a difficult one. But as I mentioned earlier, I used to give some twists and turns in the recipes to make it more interesting :)
One fine evening, I gave more thought to this "routine, regular & boring thingy". I observed that many things in nature are regular, starting from Sun rise and Sun set, seasons, lifecycle of all living beings, etc.. If these happenings are not regular, then there will be a big mishap. So it is very important for them to happen regularly. As in nature, there are some important things within us for example digestion, breathing which happens regularly. Apart from these things, our brain picks up some activities as habits only when done regularly. And this is called consistency! There is a saying in Samskrit about अभ्यास (Abhyasa which means practice), which says, whatever skill we posess, we should practice it regularly, otherwise those skills will slowly wane away. Hence it is important to practice regularly to retain it.
So practicing regularly is important, but how to make it interesting rather than a boredom??!! I have been thinking about this for sometime now... Ofcourse, if we start liking it, we will not consider those activity as a boredom, but what if otherwise?? One of the things that came to mind is slightly changing the order of the activities.. or the style of the activity like the variety in cooking receipes..
If you have any ideas on how to make the regular activities an interesting one, I am all ears to it. Please do pour in your thoughts about it..