साक्षी

भावनाको घोप्टेभीर
मनको जोगीमारामा
घुम्ती बदल्छ
अनि आकांक्षाका खोरियामा
कुकुर जोधाइ सुरु हुन्छ

रित्तोपन लुकाऊँदै
शासकहरु हात बाँधेर
मुकुण्डो कसाऊँछन्
अनि एउटा नौटंकी
जिन्दगी सुरु गर्छ

पहिराहरु आतुर छन्
धरातल उल्टाऊँन
भूकम्पहरु खुट्टा उचाल्छन
धर्ती हल्लाऊँन
बाढीहरु सल्बल छन्
सिर्जना बगाऊँन

ध्वजा पताका फिजारिन्छ
रङ्गमञ्च सजिन्छ
गीत रचिन्छ
सङ्गीत पस्किइन्छ
बिस्तारै चिहान उठ्न थाल्छ
सपना बिपना जस्तै लाग्न थाल्छ
दर्शक भुलिन्छ्न्
सिठ्ठी बजाइन्छ
ताली पड्काइन्छ

विश्वविद्यालयहरु निरर्थक हुन्छन्
प्राध्यापकहरु घुँडा टेकेर
ज्ञानको भीख माग्न थाल्छन्
ढुंगाका  मुर्तीहरु
पैतालाका डोबहरुले भरिन्छन्
बुद्धिजीवीहरु भँडखारामा पुरिन्छन्
तक्मा भिर्ने मै हुँ भन्नेहरु
बन्दीगृहका कैदीमा चुनिन्छन्

कोलाहल ठप्प छ
मस्तिष्क थाङ्नामा सुत्दछ
निडर निरुत्साहित
एउटा साक्षी
सिर्फ हेरिरहन्छ
सुनिरहन्छ
आँखा खोलेर अनि आँखा बन्द गरेर
सधैं ब्युँझिरहन्छ
अनि ब्युँझ्याइरहन्छ
अनवरत
एउटा साछी ब्युँझिरहन्छ
ब्युँझ्याइरहन्छ

Why are we getting busier and busier?

To be frank, I do not have any new answer that is not out there somewhere. I believe we are getting busier and busier every day because we are all becoming more and more materialistic. We need many things and services to enhance our sense of self. Some of which, we genuinely need, but a sizable portion of it, we can do away with.

Only if we were all less materialistic, we could just be working 30 hours a week or even less and still manage to have the things essential for us. It is not unknown that there are countries and cultures that are perfectly functional and advancing even with less work hours. They have a better social dynamic that values leisure, family time,  and social time over the individual materialistic ambitions. They have social norms that are more favorable for people to be relaxed.

This is not in any way to say that work is bad, work is great joy if it is done with passion. However, many of us also may have experienced that sometimes there is not just enough time to pursue hobbies, passions, social life, and endeavors of tranquility. Why is our life so hectic? Can we change it? Can one change it? The answer is Yes. However, one needs a lot of conviction to do it alone. It helps when close ones support and helps further if everyone around keeps similar attitude.

What will happen if what is going on goes on? You may be fine, if you inherited a lot of wealth that you do not need to worry about being busy to meet your needs. That is, only as long as your needs are in the range that your wealth can handle. You may also be fine, if you have a  natural state that desires only basic requirements of life no matter what the world thinks. Otherwise, our lives will become even busier. Everyone will have to work harder and harder. The bar will get higher and  higher for future generations.

Why we do what we do?

Well, there must be many reasons. However, I can think of one reason that can galvanize many motivations behind doing anything. I think, we love to experience things. Whether through our own life or through stories, movies, art, and expressions; we love to experience myriad of things.

We cook to experience a taste. We read to experience something real or imaginary that has been expressed by someone else. We watch movies, emotionally involved, to get a feel of many experiences that we cannot directly go through. We write, create, or express ourselves so that others can relate to us and enjoy our experiences. We dance, sing, entertain, cry, and do many things that will not only enrich us but will cater to others' desire to experience things.

I write, mostly in Nepali, and I am in the process of publishing my first book. However, I was wondering for a long time to know why would I want to publish? What can I contribute to the world that it already does not have? Then I realized that no matter how insignificant one may think, the experience I have gone through is unique in itself. So, if I publish a book with my expressions that reflect my unique perspective shaped by my one of a kind life experience, may be it will help others experience a story, creation, or life through my words. That I think would be pretty significant.

In a nutshell, I think it is the desire to experience a variety of things that drives us to play sports, go on adventures, read, write, watch, cook, create, act, dance,...whatever comes to mind.

Which book should you read?

First, ask yourself, do you just want some brain exercise or you want to open your eyes to know that there is nothing that you do not know. If your goal is the former, grab any book in the subject of your liking, definitely go for the popular ones, it will ensure the probability of your liking and your desire for making your brain tool more sharper and capable. If your goal is the later, then there is no book for you to read.

Choosing the later goal means coming to a realization that there is nothing that anyone needs to know and that the knowing and the know-er are the same. If the goal is such, then you must stop reading books, listening to ideas, and learning tricks. Instead, you must start unlearning the brain exercises that books, any thinking, imagination, or mental noises create. You don't require any book, knowledge, mental thinking, and tricks to come to a realization that you are the know-er and the knowing. You always Knew, no book will impart this knowledge. You must stop seeking for brain teasers and feel the all knowing know-er that you are, that is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient.

What is true knowledge?

Anything that cannot go beyond mind is not TRUE knowledge. Everything we learn in school, college, graduate school are mere routines and methods that help us use our brain as a tool to solve daily problems. To go beyond mind, one has to be able to tame the mind, let the thoughts calm down, and be able to realize without thinking. Yes, this might sound a little beyond imagination. But, the whole point is to not let brain do the work but let the brain, thoughts, and imaginations subside.

Does that mean that we need to stop thinking? Or not use are brain at all? No. We have to still think and use our brain, a wonderful tool, to solve our daily problems, make our living, and make our and others' life efficient. However, everything happening  in or around the periphery of mind cannot be taken as TRUE knowledge. If we take them as true knowledge, all we end up with is stress and so many other mental problems like ego problem; unbalanced amount of love, hate, enthusiasm, passion; jealousy, obsession, compulsion; excessive seeking of status and power etc to name a few.

Does this mean that all professors, GPA heroes (straight A students), people who perform beyond chart at work are all ignorant? Yes, they are, if they think that what they have achieved is the ultimate metric for knowledge and success or if they fail to realize that what they have achieved is merely an efficient and elegant use of their brain for practical purposes. If their ultimate yearning is only such achievement that they tie it with status, power, and ego; then they have no TRUE knowledge.

TRUE knowledge makes smart people wise, lessens their ego, moves them away from status and power. Happiness rushes into their heart and kindness is always abundant in them, if they have TRUE knowledge. This doesn't mean that people who have TRUE knowledge have to be poor, material less, and be like hermits. It just means that they KNOW that wealth, material, status or power is just like thoughts in brain that are not TRUE source of fulfillment and contentment. Knowing and acting according to that, is TRUE knowledge!

Why do we exist?

Ask about a million dollar question, this is one of them. I wish I knew the answer for sure.

I believe we exist even before we realize that we exist. The realization or perceiving of our existence happens to us because of consciousness. We get the ability to think, choose, decide after we have consciousness. The consciousness itself happens to us, we did not decide or choose it. We do not choose in which body, family, city, or country we want the consciousness to manifest upon us. We are able to create an identity for us, differentiate among things, and create a history of ourselves in our brain only after consciousness manifests upon us, the perceiving one.

So, trying to figure out why do we exist, is just like a computer software trying to figure out a procedure that the programmer has never coded in the answer for. At least with normal sensing mechanisms in us, I think we will not be able to figure it out. May be there is way to know the answer by activating the sixth sense or third eye or whatever the extra power is called; through science, meditation, self-inquiry, enlightenment...etc. I for sure do not have any of them, except my full attention to this present moment.

My logic is that, if we existed even before were able to realize that we exist, we will exist even after we are no longer able to perceive our existence. Therefore, we were always there and will always be. The question of why comes only when thoughts dance on brain and only during the perceiving phase. Anything that is only relevant on one phase cannot be a TRUE thing. Thus, asking the question why we exist is like computer program trying to figure out a procedure that is not defined in the program. The outcome will be that the computer will freeze and there will be no resolution. Alas, the poor computer will never be able to figure out the reality beyond the program because it does not have any extra ability to perceive any other dimension. So is the case with us trying to figure out why we exist.

In grand scheme of things, I believe, this question, although not trivial, is not relevant. However, it will help us get near our own TRUTH, which if we all derive carefully, must be the same.

Will the ego ever die?

The short answer is NO.

The long answer is, no, it won't. However, one can manage to have almost no ego. Ego is like a stretchable translucent material that can be slowly stretched to the point that the material actually becomes transparent. The more we feel secure about ourselves, the more we can stretch our ego so that it can easily accept criticisms, handle inferiority or superiority complexes, and let lamentations go away.

It is very easy to feel secure. No manifestation in this world that we can perceive can be complete without our presence. In order for any reality to be complete, the presence of you, I, or whoever is perceiving must be there. That is why, everyone who can feel the present moment, and perceive the reality is equally important for the manifestation to fully present itself. No matter what anyone says or thinks, that is TRUE.

The ego is there because we fail to realize this. Even if we realize it, we often forget. Yes, we may not be to always remember this and let the ego rest in peace. But if we remember this very often, we can let the ego rest in peace most of the time. :)