Ray asked “I get conflicted about whether to live life with passion or dispassion? Attachment, passion and egoism aren’t they impurities of the mind? I get further confused when the above comes from you. ”
I never want to take on the mantle of someone that imparts knowledge, Ray, but as a fellow searcher let me explore. Passion belongs to the moment and Attachment is addicted to the past or the future. Attachment is desire while Passion is pure acceptance. Desire brings with it the fear of non achievement, but Passion has no fear. Mira’s passion for Krishna was not a desire for Krishna but a Pure Passion. It was not an attachment to Krishna but a love so pure and passionate that she was one with Krishna. Passion is universal and flows consistently and is limitless, the bhakti of Mira was never ending in it’s force of expression.
Shakespeare wrote a great line for Juliet (Romeo and Juliet) ” he is a beggar that can measure his worth”. She was speaking about love. Passion is beyond measurement, it explodes through the clouds of contextualization. For it has no measure to compare it to.
Attachment and desire are contextualized and contained by measurement – they are reigned in by fear of non achievement – and by comparison, self loathing and envy. Passion is not only selfless but the letting go of the self. Passion is action not addicted to a defined result. Pure Passion leads to pure action. Attachment leads to reaction, not action”.
Lets continue to explore.
Hiyaaaaaaa
awarapan, banjarapan…
so many words…but any way…felt nice after reading…
i am doing a strange experiment…no more sophistry!…i am making an ACTION FILM!…
me and my friend writer, we are both heavy duty spiritual guys…he is into SAGUN bhakti and i am into NIRGUN BHAKTI( OMKAR)…after the short film, we wrote 2 stories for me to direct…both were emotional yet spiritual stories…one was rocking…we found visual representation of FINDING INNER SELF…we were elated…so we chose that…developed the structure…
but few days ago…i was silent and he was silent…we sit in an irani restaurant to develop stories, then structure…actual writing at home…so he was silent and i was silent…
and we both simultaneously said ‘ lets fuck philosophy and spirituality…lets come out with out an out action packed thriller…but of course REALISTIC! ‘…and we did…(its natural to us…for we both are hard core ACTION, THRILLER fans…and had developed several stories before this…but mostly thrillers and never ACTION thriller…but its our rule…new story for new feeling! so we wrote new one…)
but then the main problematic thought in my mind was ‘ How the fuck i am going to execute it? forget budget…i can manage that…but execution…?’…
‘fuck’ we said and started visualizing…and now we are almost done with the script and i am feeling elated…i am happy with whatever has come on the paper…i can write ACTION films too…lol…lets see about direction…let me continue to explore…lol…
hence forth i am going to keep the inner path inside and outer part outside…sounds as if its a compromise…but believe me its farthest from compromise…its ACTUAL DOING…
PASSION IS ACTION NOT ADDICTED TO A DEFINED RESULT…you said it dude…
Life is about living and not thinking about…i am getting all the new meaning to same old bakwas lines…
more later…
dhishummmmmmmmmmmm…. lol
Passion/Enthusiasm makes you proactive while attachment makes you reactive.Passion drives to achieve things we love most while attachment is like umbilical cord which is need to be removed after certain point to move on in life. Thanks for such thought provoking article.
Few times I am interested, Few times I am not.
The more I am interested, The more I am confused.
The solution ?
Lets act as per the story till it ends because it is never ending queries…
Partnership
A Gift
When partnership shows up in your life You are put on notice not to collapse yourself into that union. For true partnership can only be achieved by separate and whole beings who retain their separateness even in unity and uniting. Remember to let the winds of Heavens dance between you.
Love is reckless; not reason.
Reason seeks a profit.
Love comes on strong,
consuming herself, unabashed.
Yet, in the midst of suffering,
Love proceeds like a millstone,
hard surfaced and straightforward.
Having died of self-interest,
she risks everything and asks for nothing.
Love gambles away every gift God bestows.
Without cause God gave us Being;
without cause, give it back again.
Mathnawi VI, 1967-1974
Recently, I was discussing with my friend’s mom about one of the paras from ‘Bhagwat Gita’
I interpreted it like this:
It is important to have a goal in life. It is nice to be passionate about something (the goal) in your life.
It helps one focus, concentrate, develop etc. any materialistic goal is short lived. So, it is said that the real goal in your life, the real passion in your life should be eternal.
According to me, the only eternal thing I can think in life is true, pure love.
Like the passion you mentioned, that Mira had for Shri Krishna.
Passion for my mum was cooking for us, She loved vegetable shopping like I have never known another!:)
She would go to such lengths to procure the right veggies, the right ingredients, she loved labouring over the gas stove for hours cooking, relishing every bit of time spent there. I could never understand her fascination for these things when I was younger, but as days go by, I look back, reflect – I see her eyes light up when she saw satiation on our faces and saw us reach out for a second and a third helping, she glows with committment, love and indeed her passion which is eternal, never dimming, burning bright and if possible gets stronger with every passing moment!
Your post today compels me to ask myself, what do I feel as passionately for?:)
shekhar, interesting read about Mira and Sri Krishna. BTW, my favorite is Radha…what a passionate love she had for krishna and yet it was the most sublime…i remember reading one anecdote…once krishna was in his palace and shedding tears quietly….someone (Uddhav or rukmani or…) saw this and asked as why on earth the lord krishna would shed tears? He simply said, he misses radha in the midst of all these beautiful queens, in the midst of all the knowledeable bhaktas……the person who heard this was astonished and asked krishna – “then why on earth you don’t bring Radha here?” krishna replied by saying that they are always together….it is a connection of soul….
btw, talking about passion and krishna and someone here wrote abt. an action film – shekhar, have you seen Aamir khan’s ghajini? he took the project so passionately that it went on to generate rs.115 cr nett in india – highest ever growing bollywood film…..and he did say in one interview that if there is any role he wud like to portray from mahabharata – it wud be of krishna! Shekhar, if you can immortalize Elizabeth on screen – why not KRISHNA and why not aamir khan as krishna????
OK
What is the need to define such words? There is no way you can attribute a universal definition to anything..especially words. The exhilaration that arises is nothing but the very self in its most natural devoid of the clouds that cover it. The mind then tries to give various definitions to such feelings.
Hiya Shekhar
Will be back for this have to rush
awwwwwwwwwww kaha tha naaaa arghhhhhhhh my eyes…Im going blinddddddd
.
eyes popping out of mah SOCkets!!!!!
how will I read U den ?
errm!
Krishna misses Radha though he says he is connected to her soul and they are always together. Connection of souls is not enough, if it is, why would Krishna miss Radha and shed tears for her. And is this an attachment? For an eternal love, is just the soul level connection enough? When Krishna misses Radha, how can we mortals be not missing the ones we love?
I like to be passionatily attach:)
Dear Shekar, I am in Noida (Delhi) doing some voluntary work for rural areas in India.I am staying until April 29. Please send me an e-mail so we may chat by phone. If you happen to be in Delhi, it would be great to see you.
All the very best, Bob
Though not entirely related to the main thrust of the original post, it provoked me to write about detachment, in the context of a human spirit every one of us will or have experienced at some point in our lives…
The notion of death and mortality has engulfed my psyche this past week – triggered by a couple of tragic developments (or should I say tragic devastations) in the extended family…one around the completely unsuspected, sudden and symptom-less end of a life…another around the discovery of terminal cancer.
How does one deal with a tragedy such as death of a seemingly healthy being, particularly when it’s timing was so unpredictable? Even more mysterious that it happened immediately following “darshan” at an *auspicious* religious vortex in south india, on an *auspicious* day last week. Was he blessed that he had to endure no pain and suffering and his last breath was a breeze, after a divine encounter? Or was it a misfortune that he jumped the age line to reach life’s finish line, leaving behind many older counterparts in the family to enjoy “longer lives”? So on and so forth.
Earlier in the week it was dealing with news about terminal cancer. My heart went out to my cousin having to cope with the reality of her father’s condition that she could do nothing about, except be a helpless bystander. Moments such as these serve as triggers to catalyze deeper introspection. A million questions raced through my human mind. How is it/why is it that the silent killer lurks within our mortal system, so maliciously, only to reveal itself when we no longer are in a position to control it? Is there a more benevolent reason why some mortal beings are subjected to this situation, while many others have had the benefit of revealing symptoms, for timely medical intervention and control? How is it that many others have emerged strong and resilient cancer survivors? How do you cope with having to live your day and night with a loved one, painfully experiencing him wither & degenerate in front of your eye…watching the silent killer so mercilessly torture every moment of his limited remaining life…debilitating and paralyzing in slow motion, yet in rapid succession, every sensory and motor organ so vital to everyday living, that we take for granted. How do you cope with the concept of death-in-waiting and watch your father suffer to the finish line?
From amidst the swiss alps, I skyped my mother in India…only for her to see me completely choked by my own emotional state…tears streaming down my face. As she struggled to comprehend “her baby” in visible turmoil, I felt her maternal instincts take over to touch me, and wrap me in the comfort of her digital hug…through satellites and wireless routers into the depths of my grieving heart.
I was struggling with the circumstances around the loss of one dear soul, and the soon-going-to-lose another. My mind was trying to reconcile the contradictions in the 2 tragic events – one that was so rapid, sudden and instantaneous vs. the other that is, and continues to be, drawn-out in its path to the inevitable destination of mortal beings…yet, both outside the bounds of human control. Fundamental to the reconciliation process was faith in and acceptance of the concept of ‘karma’. Amidst endless group chatter around the unfairness around each of the two circumstances, I found myself silently differing. Recognizing the tragic realities as the will of a higher order, for a higher reason, enabled grieving with grace, and coping with the loss with strength & detachment.
After a long period of silence, wrapped in my mother’s consoling words, I broke that silence…wiped away my tears of endearment and attachment, and said to her:
in the context of karmic purpose of life on earth, words like ‘jug jug jiyo’ and ‘may you live long’, popularly considered as blessings, seem like absurdities of human desire (vs. divine will). For, the divine will is quite contrary.
She was struggling again…this time not to comprehend “her baby” in turmoil, but to comprehend what happened between the time I was so choked a few minutes earlier and the time I uttered these words.
Sailing the alternating waves of attachment and detachment, desire to control and desire to let go, in the context of our everyday life/activities may be a practical challenge. Nevertheless, faith in the fact that there is immense Grace in whatever happens around you or to you (most times incomprehensible by our limited mortal minds) gives courage and strength to live & endure life boldly, fearlessly and with passion. Desire to control stems from attachment, desire to let go stems from detachment.
without passion and dispassion.
remembering him should be as easy and as natural as we breath
shekhar,
you are great. you dissect the words so perfectly. reading your blogs is such a pleasure
Shekhar
Further, we can also say
Passion leads, while attachment follows.
Passion is light, while attachment is shadow.
Passion can be passive, while attachment is always active.
Passion is objective, while attachment is subjective.
Passion ends at Passion, while attachment ends nowhere.
Passion holds nothing, while attachment claims everything.
Passion is beyond use, attachment is useless.
Passion is mirror, while attachment is image.
Gagan
Passion with attachment is undesirable.
Passion with detachment is pure.
As is any other emotion. The bottomline is detachment, which can be cultivated with meditation.
Our expression in cyber space can only be with words, as someone has rightly pointed out they limit us.
As beings of consciousness our design is such that the highest grace of passion is silence. Have you noticed that when there is a sincerity of true connection one gets speechless.
The divine love of passion is merely semantics. The distinction is in the beingness around that expression. The passion is the purpose you are alive for, not everyone gets there. Its present at all times its changeless, since its who you are, that in itself is the lifes journey.
The detachment arises by nature not by effort since you are alive to your beingness, which is ultimately the expression of divine love. This permeates no matter what you are doing to all those that are in your company.
Our actions limit us, and the beingness in action is unlimited.
Oddly enough I was questioning my own playground, at what level do i play at? What I got back not a the level of my passion. I also got that old song ‘its not what you do, its the way that you do it, thats what gets results’
So many times i got hung up on the end, and forgot who i was being along the way, when really the end is meaningless as I found it, on its own its empty.
Attachment arsies from fear and lack of self belief.
Shekar your blog does raise some very interesting themes, its delightful that someone like you finds the time to share himself with us. Very humbling, you are quite a deep thinker, would love to meet your acquaintance soon.
So well written…it really has given me an insight in to use of these words, i am definitely yearning to have faith, passion and clarity in what ever i do…going through your aticles gives me nice food for thought!
My comment got eaten up by cyberspace.
Chalo, koi naheen.
I’m always amazed how you can so easily write your message