A Voyage to Mysticism: 5 Pills to Swallow......

A Voyage to Mysticism: 5 Pills to Swallow......(Hari Parameshwar) A Voyage to Mysticism: 5 Pills to Swallow.......


Pill 01: Why do we call a donkey, a donkey?

About 20 years back, when I was living in Nasik, I had somehow acquired a special interest in the behavior of donkeys. There were many stray donkeys in the society where I lived and their braying sound was too bizarre for me in the beginning as I had never been exposed to that strange animal until then. On one chilly winter morning, I spotted a donkey right in front of my sit-out, holding a strange posture with its front legs extended and head dropped almost to ground level. It stood facing the rising sun. Seeing its unusual posture, I seriously wondered if that donkey was practicing Surya Namaskar. It continued in that position for a few minutes before shifting to another one, again resembling a different yoga posture. Later it made a few fierce body movements before adopting a standstill pose on firm legs and dropped head for several minutes. Seeing its motionless posture and the deeply absorbed appearance, I thought it really was meditating.

From that day, I always used to keenly observe this outlandish animal with a lot of curiosity that raised many questions in my mind. On many occasions I could catch them standing for several minutes or even hours, in silent mode like statues and completely unconcerned about the surroundings. I also found it changing it’s posture, suddenly switching sometimes over to certain funny positions or violent dancing sequences or some wild body movements such as rolling on ground or jumping or running. I always thought that this animal enjoyed whatever it did, unconcerned with how the world around looked at it or thought about it.

What does a donkey really do when it holds a still posture in silent mode for a long time? Is there any thought process in it’s brain when it is withdrawn from the external world in that standstill position? Does it remain in some deep thought or in a thoughtless stage? In both cases, its mental condition is close to that of a spiritualist's mind.

Donkeys have many virtues, such as obedience, ability to endure, patience, loyalty, talent of absorption, self-contentment, detached approach, passivity, naturalness, hardworking nature, service mentality, etc., etc.. And, amazingly, all these qualities are referred to as the essentialities that one should acquire in his journey on a spiritual path. Still we call a donkey a donkey, a synonym for a foolish one. It is true that someone who is really on a spiritual path also perhaps will be seen and misunderstood by others as eccentric or foolish.


Pill 02: The blindfish

Two years back we used to see a blindfish in the aquarium of Ramanashree California Resort. The aquarium, placed at the reception, area was not that large, having a frontage of approximately 5 feet by 3 feet and housing roughly 20 ornamental fishes of small and medium sizes. During the weekends, whenever we had been there for dinner, our first task was always to go and check if the blindfish remained in the glass tank since we had constantly feared that one day it would disappear. And, it really had happened so on one day. After finishing our dinner, the children used to rush again to watch that amazing creature moving slowly but flawlessly along the glass walls. We used to spend, on average, not less than ten minutes of every trip watching the blindfish moving lonely in its own rhythm in a predefined path amid the group of other fishes in the tank.

The blindfish was silver in color and almost six inches in length. It was one among the bigger fishes in the tank and appeared similar to the other fish of its breed and size, except that it moved about more slowly than the others. It was not clear whether the fish was born blind or it had lost its eyes when it was small. There were only two pits in place of its eyes as if its eyes had been hauled out by someone; maybe some other fish had attacked it and eaten its eyes. However, my son had his own knowledge bank to share and he told me that those fish are naturally blind as it lives in caves and deep water where sunlight can’t reach. He might be right, though I am not sure if the fish in discussion belonged to one of those categories.

Whatever may be the reason for its blindness, we used to feel a kind of tranquility while standing there and simply observing the movement of that blind fish. Initially when we located this rare creature among the other fishes, we used to move our hands vigorously outside the glass vessel close to the fish to check if it was really blind. While all other fishes responded to the movement of our hands, this one was never aware of the presence of the images moving in front of it. It moved steadily, always close to the glass walls in a predefined route and the other fish appeared unconcerned about it as if they were all blind towards the blind fish.

A real spiritualist is also like this blindfish, unconcerned about the images of obstacles in front of him, detached from the environment, moving in a predefined path and not drawing the attention of anyone around him. The world surrounding him will also be unconcerned about him.


Pill 03: The blind man

We used to see a totally blind man in HAL airport when I worked there 15 years back. Though I am unable to recollect his name, his face, looks, and even his typical way of walking are still in my mind's screen. He was well known for his unusually dominant extra-sensory powers. He never used a stick or any other walking aids for his flawless movement all around the crowded places, though he moved a bit slowly utilizing his intense hearing ability and acute smelling powers. Once he had encountered a person, his ability to identify him afterwards even from far was incredible. We had tested this skill with him many times through mock trials and he never failed even once. Many times when I used to be around the Terminal, this man used to come close behind me and call me by my name.

He always seemed to possess the latest flight information and the details of arriving and departing VIPs, many of who used to give him money. What is more, he was considered the best source of the up to date information about everything happening around the airport. He was close to most of the airport and airlines staff, security personnel and even Intelligence Bureau officials. He was permitted to enter the meet and greet area of arrival hall without holding a pass. He also had astonishing powers to predict the weather, though I am not sure whether he used to get information from the meteorological department staff that were also his contacts.

I was bewildered to think about his enhanced extra-sensory powers as a result of his dysfunctional eyes. I used to envisage the probable level of enhancement of his intuition powers if one more of his senses was dysfunctional. I believe that our overall sensory power, taking into account the usage level of the sixth sense, remains constant irrespective of how many of them are functional at a particular level. One who strives to become a sage, too, tries to minimize his dependence on his five external senses by compensating for them with the enhancement of his sixth sense.



Pill 04: Wandering insane persons

Wandering mentally-deranged people always inspire me, especially those who are silent and unconcerned with the surroundings. They are also not perturbed about their physical appearance and do not seem to be aware of any pain despite bearing many physical injuries and symptoms of ill health; a stage closer to the total withdrawal from all the external senses. Many of them do not hold any greed, lust, or any other negative emotions. They behave naturally and their state of mind reflects in their facial expressions and body languages. Whenever they are truly hungry they seek food and they eat only whatever is essential to be eaten; nothing to be preserved for tomorrow, nothing to be thought about for the very next moment. They just live in the present......

We, the so called normal ones, react to them in many peculiar ways. While most of us keep away from such people, some chase them away as if they are from a different planet, many show sympathy and offer them clothes, food or even money, without knowing whether they understand the beauty, taste or value of those items.

When I was working in Ahmedabad airport, there used to be a wandering insane man who used to search out and locate me once in a while to ask for money. He always wanted ten rupees, nothing more and nothing less. After collecting the money he used to go straight to the nearby snacks kiosk to get a tea and a samosa for ten rupees. I tried to give him more, but he never accepted the extra; he used to recognize only a ten rupee note. None knew about his whereabouts; he appeared from nowhere one day and later disappeared in a similar way. There had been many stories floating around about him, someone even said he was a spy in disguise.

In one of the peak winter days I found him roaming around half naked, not wearing a shirt, and I had experienced instant empathy for his suffering. In that afternoon when I returned from home after lunch, I brought a shirt which was brand new but of no use to me as I had bought it under-size by mistake from Delhi. I had to search a lot to locate him and finally found him in one corner of the car park. I presented him the shirt and asked him if he liked it, which was of my favorite color. Though he nodded his head in agreement, he declined to wear it as if there was something missing in it. In the next minutes I found him moving towards the nearby sand pile meant for construction work. He threw the shirt down in the sand, stamped on it repeatedly, poured the sand on it before stamping on it again and made some violent trampling actions. Then he took the shirt out, flapped away the sand and checked its appearance. Dissatisfied with the results, he again threw it down, stamped on it again and again until he was satisfied with its totally soiled appearance. Then he held it spread in his hands and looked at it with extreme joy and satisfaction. After that he wore it and looked at me with an inexplicable body language and sparkle in his eyes, before walking away.

I always get perturbed when think about the mental state of such insane persons. Are their minds thoughtless? Are their brains detached from their external senses? Are they susceptible to receiving their own inner calls? Do they follow their hunches? Is the state of their mind in a condition of joy and contentment? Do they really live in the present? If it is so, then, isn’t it similar to a stage that all our spiritual gurus guide us to strive and achieve?

It is likely that a real mystic also may be misunderstood as an insane person. In other words, it is possible that many of the wandering insane people, whom we encounter, may be sages, though we don't recognize them rightly.



Pill 05: God's creations or God himself?

My beliefs about spirituality as well as my views about the way we are wired to the universe were shattered by the fiery thoughts that emerged on the day when I visited the 'Rising Star', a charitable institution run by Reverend Joseph. The institution is home for many under privileged children and it also extends educational support and facilities to them. It also accommodates a few physically challenged and some mentally retarded children in a separate building. After taking me around to all these wards, finally he guided me to a room where I saw a scene that I will never forget. There was a living male human body that was nothing better than a vegetable. Except for the sluggish drifting movement of his limbs and the mild expansion and contraction of his diaphragm, there was no indication of the presence of life inside that body. Reverend told me that he was 21 years old, though his body size was nothing bigger than the size of a 4-5 year old boy, except that his head was disproportionally big. There were no clothes on the body as they would get spoiled due to frequent defecation and urination, adding irritation to that life. Someone had to feed him and clean him frequently.

Reverend Joseph was obsessive in telling me the story of that mysterious life. He spoke about how that life got abandoned by his parents, how that body got injured by dogs and how he brought that life to the institution after taking over his responsibility from the government hospital. Reverend fervently spoke about the personal attention he extends for his care and about the kind of pleasure he derives by serving him for many years by then. It was not possible to understand whether it received any inputs through its senses or if it recognized the presence of the world around it. There was no indication of any suffering by the soul; rather, there existed an unusual glow and a peaceful smile on its face.

I just thought of the condition of that life in the absence of any inputs from external environment. Or we can think another way round that it was without any senses or its senses were fully cut off from its mind, if such a thing really existed within it. Though Joseph was philosophical about the sufferings of such cursed births, the radiance on its face was telling me a different story. Joseph was a bit emotional when he questioned even God's need to create such lives on earth except to test and provide opportunity for the people like him to endure.

When we came out of the room, I too was shattered deeply within and was in an appalling thought process. I asked Reverend Joseph:

"Reverend, knowing well that it is a redundant question that I am going to ask you, may I request you not to mind if I ask you whether you really believe in God?"

He stared on my face as expected and answered instantly.

"Why, not to believe? Not only that I believe in God, I also believe that I am sent by him here to look after his impaired creations that went wrong intentionally or unintentionally."

"Reverend Joseph, if you believe in God, I have to tell you that your inferences about those flawed creations of God are wrong.”

Reverend continued to stare on me with qualms visibly reflecting in his eyes. I continued:

“They are not God's creations as you think. On the contrary, they are God Incarnates, God himself. Couldn't you sense the sort of tranquility on his face and see the aura emerging from deep within him? In the absence of a mind within that body, what is reflecting outside is the real soul. They are absolutely not in a stage of suffering as you think. In fact, we are the ones struggling in our lives to reach that stage where he exists. Such manifestations on earth are holy births that reflect the particles of the God itself. Be glad that you have been serving and caring for the God all these days. That way, you are also a holy birth on earth and people like me are not fit even to touch your feet."

I could see the sudden onset of a fright in his eyes and face. He gazed at me as if he heard something which he had never heard of. I re-asserted what I said through the firm movement of my head before I walked away. He stood there silent and had not moved an inch from where he was standing even as my car was moving and had not bothered to wave his hand on me despite me waving my hand perpetually to draw his attention towards me.