Ragpickers of the Mind

A sight,  routinely seen during the course of the day in any big city, more so in Mumbai, where some one's trash could be someone else's find of the day.  Trudging around, collecting the city's discards, lugging stuff around to finally dump it all together; not before appraising the contents.

She does this, the cleaning of other people's dirt, day after day, with no protective gear for herself;  probably just a protective thought in her mind, for her kids, for whom she must work at this job...

Typically, those creating dirt like this, are also good at creating dirt within themselves, physically and mentally.  

My friend Magiceye  captured this and posted it as part of the 365project.org 

Rampant
lipidicious waste,
blobs of polymers,
discarding of excesses
of everything in life
except
evil avaricious thoughts,
and
she does her rounds,
daily,
augmenting it all
bag by 10 micron bag
on her
tolerant shoulders,
so our
paths in life
remain unclogged and clean.

And we,
who have so much,
perhaps too much,
indulge senselessly
in those avaricious thoughts,
to thoughtlessly
greedily imbibe
everything
that looks and tastes good,
in life,
without looking inside.

Lipidy wall-scratchy blobs,
wildly roaming
in the body ,
sometimes clogging it all,
and
then rampant
bloody fights
and
expensive angio-flights
in an  ambitious mind.

Pharmaceutical Ragpickers
may be found
at a huge cost
for the body,
but
does anyone know
about
Ragpickers
for the Troubled and Misguided Mind?

Ode to a Sensible Tree

One goes through life facing lots of distractions, and attractions. Some change your life.  For the worse.

Sometimes, one stands firm in the face of it all,  This is an Ode to a Sensible Tree in a Forest, that ignored various mind bending attractions, in the face of enticing offers from the wind.

This poem inspired by a certain observed life changing health experience.

Many winds
blow
through the Life Forest....

Some intoxicate,
urging the branches
to bend in wildness,
till they crack...

Some
nudge and wink,
blinding and stunning you,
with misleading future visions;

But
the Smart Tree of Life,
entrenched,
in the richly endowed
Ancestral Earth,
celebrates
the Sap flowing through its trunk,
distributing health
to its branches, leaves and fruits.


No collapsing in weakness,
No seeping Sap
at junctions,
No lumps;
and the wild wind
quietly sneaks away,
leaving
the Tree of Life
to its
Day in the Sun.

Mind and Body

Blogger friend Magiceye titled this visual "Bulls at peace", when he posted it . This is possibly a close up of the bulls taken at Harne Beach in the Kokan coast of Maharashtra, where the days catch is auctioned/sold/bought and possibly the crates lugged away for retailing at some market, by bullock cart, some distance away.

There is an intriguing expression on the animals' face.

Something that says, this is my lot, mine is not to question why and crib, but to do my job sincerely and without thinking of reward, and with a minimum of excitement.

I cant help feeling, that as much as the animal shames us in the way it follows the philosophy outlined in the Bhagwad Gita ie ("do your duty(work) to the best of your ability, without thinking of the fruits of your labour. ") , there must be a fleeting thought of something else passing through its bovine but possibly exalted mind ....

(photo by Deepak Amembal Magiceye)
Tied
and yoked
in a biped world,
the milk of their kindness
abused
by
greedy dairies
and
avaricious hormones,
helplessly
passing it on
to the calves....

Watching
the so called
evolved bipeds
haggling over
creatures they defeat
in the evolution stakes,
no matter how small.

They stand,
with dedicated looks,
upholding
the philosophy
of the BhagwadGita,
Nishkaam Karma,***
Ma Faleshu Kadaachana....****

Take a deep breath,
eyes front,
wait till the fish crates,
haggled and auctioned,
are loaded'
and
the crack of a whip.

Its time to step up
and
keep going,
the mind of a sthitapradnya******
in the body
of a cow.


*** The literal meaning of nishkama karma is "desireless action," action performed with indifference to the outcome.

**** "Keep doing your karma without worrying about or expecting rewards for your labour"

******Shri Krishna’s ideal human being is Sthitapradnya. Pradnya is mind, intellect, wisdom. Sthita means stable. Sthitapradnya is a person whose mind has stabilized. Whether he has faith in the divine is immaterial, as long as he is in a state of equilibrium while facing the ups and downs of life.

The Soaring Mind

The quality of any flight, is undeniably enhanced by the silence of its landing. Quiet, clean and purposeful, in gratitude, to the One that makes it all possible.

A great visual by Kavi Arasu, for starting of , what could be a great year for all. You can read his amazing accompanying post, nay, invocation, here.

(photo by Kavi Arasu)

A leap
powered
by an endlessly
practiced belief,
day after day,
perfecting the approach.

Facing the Sun,
up on the toes,
palms high up together,
buoyant in good wishes,
sinews glistening
in praise of strength,
he soars.




And then,
he bends his knees,
and
bows his head
in gratitude
to those that
he calls his own,
balancing
his euphoria,
with palms outstretched

So many soar,
so many leap,
and so many
talk about it.

But the ones
you remember the most
are the ones
who
quietly
sharply
make
the return entry
cutting through
the crowd
without
disturbing the water
all around.


.

The way out....

Embellished with gold
as she is,
Streaks in silver glisten
On her tresses,
falling across her face,
As do her unshed tears;
The house of two score years,
sheds its own.
Walls had ears,
but the words pierced
and hurt more,
and thinned them to a grid

Like a marauding monkey
swinging wild on a branch ,
His words fly around and stop
He watches,
His joy in her trauma,
And her limbs cringe and tighten
Withdrawing inwards ,
defiantly stiff.
There are no words
But she has seen the gleam
in the taunting eye...

Lungs packed, a sense of fear,
she even suspects her sleep,
her food.
Sitting at the window, staring
at the palm tree
which has witnessed all.

A barren life,
hers;
Devoid of heart,
fruitless,
his.

A deep breath,
a few more days,
She feels the lump
sometimes at her breast,
sometimes in her throat,
Saying yes
to the radiation
they say she needs;
And she feels
a lightness, of being
her own woman,
confident.
Something
to finally ,
happily,
terminally,
radiate away from him.

The lights of your life

In response to a wondrous and perceptive post about body,soul, permanence and sense of self.....






Little broken pieces,
Shards of prisms,
lying ,
truthfully
Refracting sunrays
to create
several rainbows ;



The shards
are the scars,
red in anger,
the skin betrayals,
the healing tissues,
the little pain
at the lip edge
as you smile,
the deepening wrinkles,
Crows eyes as you age
and
you learn to
"twinkle" back
at what life
has dealt you;

No glue works,
but eternal faith
in Him,
who patches the pieces,
sometimes of Body,
sometimes of Soul.

Puts them all together,
and you are
wholesome inside.
Your soul,
a prism,
coming together
to show you,
more rainbows in your life.........