Deepak R wrote the following piece, and does anyone have answers ?
“Shekhar, you started your blog’site’ with something so simple and smelling fresh:
‘I exist because you imagine I do’.
Where did that come from ? One could have pretty much stopped with at that. And it would not matter.
However words keep appearing on the windscreen of your experience. There is a need to put them out for the imagined outer world. A need to bounce them off. To see how they would bounce back. To constantly throw pebbles into the pool of stillness and watch the ripples. People coming here are keen to throw a few of their pebbles in as well. There are some that observe and comment on the ripples and some who see the stillness against which they appear.
Why this need?. It seems, after all, the people have the need to sustain the imagination that ‘you exist’, is it not Shekhar. This intimate and torrid love affair with ideas, words on the blog,in the mind, can it end, no denying it is most enjoyable!! But to whom? Who is hell bent on stamping his existence through these imprints ? Who is he reporting the success or failure of his effort to ?”
Store something for your eyes – The words said by a traveller while discussion on photography.
I always remember the person words. Yes, if we click whatever we see what we are going to store for our mind.
But at the same time they say-“Sharing is Caring”
I say : what we miss to click is what we store for our mind and what we click we should share with the world.
Am I right ?
God knows only the answer.
Hi Shekhar,
You have it all hence have the luxury of search for self and soul. Its sad that even discovery to self is a usually a pursuit of the rich and famous because after they have it all they realize that there is still a feeling of emptiness that no amount of money can fill. Whereas, a common man is too busy making both ends meet to indulge in soul searching.
This, is definitely a point of view:) The art of answering a question with a series of questions and eliciting responses is definitely worthy:):)
Shekhar’s statement, ‘I exist because you imagine I do’ can be explained in the following manner:
Memory is stored in the brain in a chemical form. The whole human body functions as a stimulus-response system. What there is is only a response to a stimulus. If the response is not translated, then the situation is analogous to transferring information from one floppy disc to another. There is no link up here. Each is an independent frame. Translating sensory perceptions into images is the cultural input. When I do not look at you how can I create an image of yours? The creation of images born out of imagination is mostly culturally induced. The brain translates the sensory perceptions into the framework of memory. Memory is not a constant factor. When light falls on the retina creating an image, the sensory impulses are carried through the optic nerve to the brain that re-creates the image by memory. Suppose the brain does not translate the frame of the object falling on the retina, there is no way to perceive the object. The movie camera captures the movement of a hand in frames. To see this movement we need a projector. Sound is also recorded similarly. The sound is 19 frames below the corresponding picture frame. Thus there is a gap of 19 frames between the picture and the sound. Thought is exactly like that. It is slow. By the time it comes and captures the object within its framework, your eyes have moved away somewhere else, and the object is completely wiped out, i.e., erased from the brain.
Television is a good example. There is no picture on the screen at all. What we really see is a collection of dots in frames. There is an illusion that somebody is looking at it. It is the neurons that put the dots and create a picture.
Can we teach each individual a unique life path? The uniqueness of each individual cannot be expressed due to the stranglehold of the experience of others, as others’ experiences have an effect on the person. There is no way to experience a feeling without knowledge. Happiness, for instance, can only be experienced, but not expressed. When you say you are happy you capture the sensation within the framework of knowledge.
-raj goswami
well said …………..seema
Why this need?. It seems, after all, the people have the need to sustain the imagination that ‘you exist’, is it not Shekhar. This intimate and torrid love affair with ideas, words on the blog,in the mind, can it end, no denying it is most enjoyable!! But to whom? Who is hell bent on stamping his existence through these imprints ? Who is he reporting the success or failure of his effort to ?”
hmmmm..
we just do…:)
no need to report, receive, think, express…yet, we do. why? none of us really know why…i know i don’t.
so, what are we doing?
entities having the need to move with exsistence.
what happens when we stop, or can we really stop…seems like movement is eternal on this realm, even in death the body is still recycling, changing…moving
so yeah, what the hell are we doing and why are we doing it?
yet, still, i am here writing still
okay, now i’ll stop
What is the need…
what is the need…
For Birds to chirp, when they can be just quiet,
what is the need….
For rainbow to appear,when there can be clear sky.
what is the need…
For one to dance, when one can just walk.
what is the need…
For one to sing, when one can just talk.
what is the need…
For flowing rivers, when there can be still pond.
what is the need…
For multiple stars, when there can be just one moon.
what is the need…
For us to be different, when there can be just one.
what is the need…
For us to look for one, when we all are different.
what is the need…
For me to write, when I can just sit and read.
Gagan
Different people blog for different reasons, I suppose.
Why do I blog?
Well, why does a painter paint or a sculptor sculpt?
As long as there is a mind AKA individual, it will try to exhaust its prescribed karma and probably exude self-importance along the way. There is nothing wrong with it. You cannot escape the maya superficially.
dear shekhar, few things here–
1) there is a need to express in each one of us. our lives are an expression. we all have innate talents which find an outlet, and if we try and suppress that, the results can be catastrophic. in your case, you are a story teller. your blog, just like your films do that.
2) there are a million blogs today. and we somehow gravitate to the ones which ring true for us. yes we share our views, but it is an absolute delight to even just read what you write. you uplift us, and therein you create good karma, both for yrself and for others: as we log out feeling re-connected to our inner selves.
3) i was reading this book by eknath iswaram, and he very eloquently talks about tamas (stillnes as a result of inertia), rajas (activity) and sattva (stillness as a result of complete awareness). obviously this idea is a very old one in india, and applies even to food.
the point iswaram made was that although sattva is the ultimate aim of every soul, it can only be achieved through rajas. there is no connection between tamas and sattva.
i feel that some of us (eg. you) are trying to do just that. you are creating, writing, lecturing, sharing. stillness will come of its own accord. people who think that can just ‘be’ and experience stillness are actually in the deepest abyss of tamas. (it is true however that at any given time there are all three gunas in all of us, in different proportions: that is until such time that we attain nirvana).
so shekhar, i implore you to carry on, for your own growth and for ours. we love you. shivani
I don’t know the answer but
I like what Deepak R typed:)
one of amongst the best questions in this blog…
and smarty Shekhar baba ji…you bounced back the questions to poor bloggers!
ha ha ha ha!
I feel the need to feel that I exist. its like oxygen for me , we all live for recognison and appreciation.
I am again facing a delima to stay where i am in stausco or take risk in life in hope of better tomorrow and more satisfaction.
i would like to take risk but life realities telling me not tooo.
is there a way ??????
koizen – you spotted !!. Shekhar that was cheeky indeed 🙂
Here is something …
Gautam Buddha Persuaded by Gods to Speak:
…
“Every master has come to this point, to decide whether to say anything or to remain silent. Even Gautam Buddha, when he became enlightened, did not speak a single word for seven days, because he could not find a way to say what he had found. Words don’t exist for that experience. And whatever you say about it immediately becomes wrong. The moment the inner experience enters into outer expression, something goes dead. The living dance is no more there; the throbbing pulse is no more there.
Seven days after his enlightenment, Gautam Buddha was persuaded to speak. He had argued very hard on the point. He said, ”For one thing, what I have found cannot be said. I can at the most indicate, just like a finger pointing to the moon; but it is not saying anything about the moon. The danger is that unconscious people may start clinging to the finger, rather than looking at the moon; that has happened in almost all religions. They are holding their scriptures, their holy scriptures. They are only fingers pointing to the moon – where is the moon?
Everybody is looking into his holy scripture. ”Secondly,” Gautam Buddha said. ”Even if I manage somehow to figure out a way to express the inexpressible, there is almost a ninety-nine percent guarantee that it will be misunderstood. ”And a third point,” he said. ”I am willing even to speak for that one percent of the intelligentsia – people of the heart, people who are open, not closed. But there is no certainty or guarantee that they will not misinterpret me. And once I have said something, I am no more master of it. I am master of it only while I am silent.”
His arguments are valid. And the people who were persuading him felt that what he was saying was right, but somehow he had to be convinced to speak. It is very rare that a man comes to this highest peak of consciousness, and if he remains silent humanity will not be enriched by him. He could shower the whole world with his blessings; he could bring the whole world into a deep silence where understanding blossoms. No opportunity can be lost, and a buddha is a great opportunity for the transformation of the whole world.
So they insisted, ”Your arguments are all right, we agree with you. But one thing we want to say to you is that if, after millions of people, a single person reaches to such heights, such depths … even if he is misunderstood, misinterpreted, it does not matter. At least one percent, probably, will understand him – and that is a big percentage as far as humanity is concerned. You cannot deny that one percent the great opportunity that has arisen in you. There may be a few people just on the verge of awakening – a little push and they may be on the same height, as awake as you are.
And even if you go on missing the target, what is the harm? People were unconscious, they will remain unconscious. But you have to be compassionate, at least for the one percent that you have accepted.” Out of his compassion, Buddha agreed. And as he had said, it happened. Very few people understood him, but those who understood him became transformed beings; they went through a metamorphosis. A new kind of light started shining through their being; a new aura of energy, like a cool breeze, followed them.
But millions misunderstood, misinterpreted, and you can see the result. After Gautam Buddha’s death, there was not a single buddha in the land where he was born, because the masses, with their ignorance, confusion and condemnation, distorted everything. Thirty-two schools arose after Gautam Buddha’s death, interpreting things in their own ways and fighting amongst themselves. And the old Indian priesthood – the Brahmins – did not miss the chance. The priest is always afraid of the awakened one, because he is the one who can destroy his whole profession.
AJ,
You are mistaken. There have been several Buddhas after the celebrity Gautama. Such information is not openly available to common folk. It is by design that only a few are given celebrity status and are called avatars, etc. Many fully enlightened beings have graced, and continue to grace India (and other parts of the world).
To name a few, Adi Sankara, Ramakrishna, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, UG Krishnamurti, Papaji, Annamalai Swami, Laksmana Swami (still living), Dnyaneshwar, Madhavacharya, Manikkavachakar and so many more. These are all fully realized beings. And there are several who are in complete obscurity. There is no difference between them and what you call God or Buddha. Common people are led to believe that only a handful of the well-known ones have been chosen. And the founders of religions capitalize on such misinformation.
Because.
They say poetry or art comes from what you feel or experience. People write books about it and then they are considered great works, whether they write about themselves or throw these pebbles into someone else’s.
Lets take it this way that we are not throwing pebbles into the stillness to watch the ripples; we are diving into our own selves. Learning from experiences ours or the ones shared..
that is what i feel about it..
maybe wrong..
Hi all,
I do not have answers either except for few speculations/conjectures – some convergent and some divergent of what is expressed in this thread.
I guess we all are trapped in some form of circularity of existence, of recursive causality. We exist so we think, we think so we express, and we express so we test our thinking, our existence. The existence that is outside the boundary of our own existence, not completely though, work like a surface from where thinking, and our existence for that matter, bounces back. Then we probably reshape our existence in some form. And the cycle starts again.
It might be more of a need of reforming our existence than sustaining our imagination of existence. I will hesitate to say sustenance of imagination for imagination by its very meaning is juxtaposed with realism. Our experiences can not be mere artifact of imagination, our feelings can not be simply the consequences of imagination, and as such, our existence can not be the artifact of imagination either. No matter that of ourselves, or that of others. Sure, imagination and reality may not be separated by watertight compartments. Maybe realism and imagination forms a continuum, that’s a different issue.
Despite the trap, there is one leverage of ‘human agency’ – ‘individual agency’ if you so like. We can choose in what pool to throw our little pebble in. A thing to notice is: that might as well have been dependent on what-existence-we-had, to begin with. That’s the reason we all are here in this blog, amidst the myriads of blogs on cyberspace.
And the metaphor of ripples and stillness could not be truer in the context of constant reformation of our existence. I think the beauty, the essence, of ‘ripples’ and ‘stillness’ go in tandem. They are complementary. And both are real. Very real. In a physical pool it is easy to see that ripples are short-lived while stillness shows more of permanence of existence. But our individual reality is just the opposite. We are living in constant ripples, of our own and that of others, in the universe of ripples. We are dying to experience the stillness. I do not mean ripples are not meaningful. The vibrancy of our existence is formed in the ripples. But the essence of ripples is in seeing them along with the stillness, feeling them together with stillness – not in isolation. Probably the enlightened beings can see, feel and observe these two together. Maybe we all have experienced some fleeting stillness in our life while riding on the ripples. Maybe we are here, pouring our thoughts, to check out if our passing stillness makes sense!!!
May peace prevail within us and in without…
there is no end to human creativity
Hi…
What do u think of the Ayn Rand “objectivism” and her concept of “I”
complex post. due one detail where I bicker with it. I am emailing you in detail.
Authoritative message:) interesting …
Hello from Russia)