Thinking

"Thinking is a quality of your inner being. What does 'thinking' mean? It means to retain your consciousness, to remain alert and aware, to encounter a problem. A problem is there--you face it with your total awareness and then arises an answer, a response. This is thinking"
-- Osho

random thought

"The Lord is seated in the heart of all beings turning all beings mounted upon a machine by his Maya" -- Gita.

i am a combination of cells
and molecules and atoms,

clinging together, repelling one another,
forming and dropping away,

configured in a certain configuration,
containing the energy that is the energy of the earth and the sun,

the consciousness of the whole,

yet divided,

fractured,

because at the third level,
the mind,
i cannot conceive.

***** 

listening

i listened to him--
his words,
like clean pebbles,
tangible.

the roar of the thundersquall
subsided outside
and a quiet crept into room,
snuggling for warmth.

through a leak in the roof,
dripped rain water,
into a copper pot,
half full.

i listened to him--
his words,
like clean pebbles,
tangible.

*****

alone

AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT!

Up in the hills there was this sudden change in light and then there was silence all around. The birds were chirping but their chirping was part of the silence and there was no movement.

A reservoir in the valley had turned to molten gold. The landscape changed colour from orange to gold and then to bright gold. There was a mist suffusing everything in a golden glow...

And then the sun came out of the clouds and the magic was gone.


*****

neha

my grandchild neha is two years and four months old. she is staying with us for a few days with her mother.

a few months ago, when she was with us last, i could draw her attention in the direction i wanted by introducing something surprising into the scheme of things, like the discovery of a long procession of ants across the room. she would forget her demand to go watching the temple elephant in the sun and would be fully involved in the excitement of the new discovery.

but now i find she cannot be distracted from what she wants. if she says "take me to the elephant, appooppa," she means just that. i cannot distract her by showing her ants or butterflies.

she is developing a will of her own!

*****

golf

yesterday i went into the heart of a golfer,
walking alone in the night
over a golf course we have in the city.

i have never played the game in my life
and have often wondered
what it is the fun in this game,
hitting a ball with a club
till the ball falls into a hole!

and so i walked
over this golf course,
alone,
starlit,
yesterday night.

a million sparkling stars twinkled in the skies
and there were trees, etched in black artistry,
silhouetted against the subdued glow of the horizon,
the grass undulating over the course
and the sandy bunkers,
the cushioned squeak of my feet,
over the wet grass,
a vague unidentifiable fragrance in the breeze,
the hooting of an owl...

and i thought:
if i hit the ball from where i stand,
i will have to factor in the distant
hooting of the owl,
the wind and its fragrance,
the bunkers,
the inky blotches of oblivion, dancing still,
in the trees,
my stance and backlift and follow-through
as i swing the club in an arc,
the steel of the club,
the temper and bounce of the ball,
the laws of gravity,
the roll of the gentle slope of the neatly mowed grass,
the wetness of dew on each leaf of grass,
and thence the narrow path to the hole...

and i understood why some people are crazy about golf.

*****