very beautifully expressed, fellow human...on the dot...the edifice of all human achievement as we know it, has its roots in personal trauma...trauma has enabled a great many social movements but it is critical for oneself to address the root hurt within...the trigger...else our energized activities outside merely remains as a sorrow management mechanism...having had the privilege of interacting closely with so many activists, one cannot but help see the obvious connect.

good article, Jasjit!!

In 1996-97, I began advocating for lone parent women on disability; and for children and the aged; society's most dependable, expendable and bendable.

Of course, it would take a major event, to bring me to that forefront of activism. Naturally, I had no inkling to be thrust into a limelight, glorified with blood, sweat and tears; of the issues at hand.

Like the balancing scales of justice; my mission was to right many wrongs.

I published many newspaper articles; backlashing corrupt and redundant social programs; which condemened the poor, aged and disabled into a quagmire pit; left to struggle themselves free from the life-sucking mud of poverty.

I retired, only when death threats became imminent. I retired, only when my health began to decline, to a lower degree...being drained by the activism and hours researching...pounding the pavement, hanging posters around town, for a lone parent women's group, I founded years ago; which ran for a year.

It has only this past few months, maybe a year; that I've clearly been able to see that I was not so much, helping the mass's; I was helping myself...

I have had some success's with my activism; in that, I've seen dramatic changes in social acceptance's of the poor/aged/disabled here. Finally, we have a face, and we are not just a number...

Currently, we women lose half of our monthly child-tax credit; to disability(comes of our monthly checque) what angers me; is disabled poor, lose that half; but, the working poor don't? I find it very discriminating; and have been fighting this, for many years!!

To date; this issue is on the bargaining table; when this is righted.... I will resign(again) and learn to just, "live."

I am tired...activism is a very brutal, challenging realm to be in... it leaves no room for personal growth, nor does it leave time for personal healing...

I would recommend anyone volunteer/be activist; when the opportunity to do so, is presented. But, don't let it consume you..to the point, you lose your "identity."

North

Dear Jasjit,

The usual misconception that people carry (i did too) that - it is more than enough to know that there are selfless people in this world who want to heal others. And Of course they must all be completely resolved themselves - But gradually, I learnt how wrong that notion was and that it is imperative for healers to heal themselves before they set out to help others.

But may be its the fear, the denial, the rage that keeps them from accepting the hurt and pain inside, from crying lest they come across as weak and vulnerable. As a result, they prefer to put up a brave front, a facade, as a way to defend themselves from further misery. So the desire and courage to heal themselves takes a back seat.

Wonderfully rendered Jasjit, as always!

Dear Jasjit

Incisive and extremely relevant for me right now. Forces one to revisit oneself again and again. Shubhoshree said it - "wonderfully rendered". Thank you.

North, fascinating and inspiring!

Thanks North and Shubhoshree for the shares..and the reminders...am trying to reflect light from here into the deepest recesses within, where fear, and hurt and reside, where the wounds hide..

Need your prayers and compassion, on my way..

love
Sukanya

wow, jasjit ji, i dont know many people who have such deep understanding of things. and dont know how many will be able to really understand it here as well.

any wonder that i dont want to be trapped even in a 'ji'?

however, all in the scheme and nature has taken care of this. the inner acts on the outer and the outer acts on the inner and eventually both heal themselves...may be it may take a few lives...

harb, no longer the saint..lol.

Chilling piece Jasjit. I have always looked up to activists as selfless and blessed people . And yet it is so true that many end up under a cloud. But I had never seen it as an inevitable thing. Your pieces make sense and are flawlessly articulate. But what about Gandhi, Mandela, Mother Teresa etc. What would you say about them?
I also want to know how did you escape the trap?

dear jasjit,
as long as we have experienced the pain/abuse ourselves we do not understand the helplessness and the sorrow..i firmly believe tht everything which happens to us teaches us a life lesson..but helping others does not mean we can help ourselves..most of the time altruism is carried to escape our own pain..as long as we dont acknowledge what has happened to us ..the cycle would continue and sometimes even go to a extent of completely destroying us...

Thank You All & Good Morning

North

But do you truly see the connection of how the activism or 'externalizing' of the war only exhausts and depletes you endlessly. For instance don't you find that every group, committee, space that you have created/visited ends up creating the same feeling of struggle, feeling short-changed, unappreciated etc. Why? because in fact those are the inner hurts/fears which will project onto the external the same patterns to help us in fact face our fears. But in our ignorance it only adds to the rage, strengthens our negative world-view and hence our own victim perception.
Here's a scenario. I have always felt the psyche which steps out into the world, too scared to face its own rage, ends up creating so many more faces and expereinces as the 'abuser' in that world that now the rage ends up completely morphed into something else. You think its the government, the social system, men, money-hungry professions, etc etc. You now expand yourself to belong to a whole network of victims. Femininsts brand all women victims (absurd as that maybe) similarly you may see disabled, poverty, women in such situations etc. Now this anger/violations/victimization is never going to let you even see where the wound or the original hurt really lies. Meanwhile huge walls of denial, greater class/social aggressors are on the horizon as well as that awful feeling inside 'it must be me? How come every platform, space that I join for the betterment of others turns againt me?' Now imagine the psychosis!

Its all so simple North and yet so scary because hardly anyone sees it.

Harb

Now that you have decided to step out of the 'Ji' trap it is hardly fair to place me in it. Please spare me the 'Ji'. It is so not me!

Preeti

You are absolutely right. Unaddressed it will lead to our destruction since the journey of life is really about us. All else is the dance to make us get to ourselves on the shortest possible road.

Very true, Jasjit... it's a vicious cirlce; on one hand, one feels they do good changes; on the other; just being there, in the thick and scheme of things; keeps wounds festering and bleeding.

I've stopped doing advocating a while ago; but, discimination of the poor issues; still haunt me.

But, I cannot save the world; but, perhaps, in concentrating on healing myself; I heal the world too...

North

Radhika

The three people you mention had one unique aspect. Their life work was their sadhana. For them the inner was always integral to reflect the outer. Mother Teresa clearly saw it as an extension of our adoration of God, Gandhi was manic about working first on himself before he asked others to follow any instruction. Having said that many around him also had to pay the price of his 'truths' and therin lies the paradox of handing your 'way' to others for emulation. And yet the war that he was fighting had some powerful spiritual foundations. Translated in a generic/political way they carried both the force of what he was able to achieve but also for some the shadow of error. Mandela took on a similar situation freeing the nation of 'apartheid' as a legacy and concept. However his many years in prison acted a the trigger for an idea whose time had come. Who knows if he had been allowed to function outside, what kind of distortions his group and followers would have emerged with?

As for me Radhika I could have very well slipped at many a place, perhaps irredemably. All I can say is that somewhere Grace continued to intervene and push me to larger truths. I paid my own price for following them but somewhere it was the courage to go-it-alone and somewhere the thirst to know 'more' that helped. And finally of course the truth of self-referral and healing within just overtook with enough intensity that all fell into place.

it is true jasjit, but then those who are neither left with an outer activist role nor an inner, what they will do if not play a bit with those they find as real playmates...lol. it is just 'bringing water and chopping wood' of an other kind...

love. harb

"truth of self-referral...." well said jasjit. then how will anything, any scar remain outside or unseen by you to not to be healed...

by the way...did it happen suddenly? and at what age?

harb

Harb

No I don't think anything happens suddenly. There was a deep inner outer discord for some years which fuelled the intensity and yearning for something larger. Then suddenly with the advent of Ifsha the Master appeared in a fortuitous way in the very same spot that I had been invoking guidance (bank of the Ganges) in Rishikesh. Unassuming and simple in appearance (quite unlike his reputation which had already spread through the world) he 'arranged' my intiation. It was then left for me to muster the courage/trust/surrender (which itself was a strange story)and with every step I took, the blessing came in overwhelming waves. The rest is really history. Technically then this event happened some 7 years ago.

jasjite jagjit!

ananda anandam!!

Dear Jasjit,

your depth of thought in this article, as harb says, is very immense.

i felt wonderful to read a perspective i had never thought about.

as i think more about it, i realise that one becomes a social activist and tries to help others probably due to the reasons of

1. For name and fame.
2. to kill boredom of life.
3. to soothe a guilty conscience.
4. and a genuine emotion to reach out and help.

in most of the activists the 4th option is missing and they fizzle out with time.

the real big players who succeeded in doing something for others are those who fit the latter category and

Radhika,

the three people whom u ask are the people who fit into the 4th category.

Hi Preethi,

i agree that sometimes healing others is taken on as a means to escape one's own misery, to avoid addressing it. having said that, i also believe that if one steps into another's world of pain and sorrow, it can help in realising that there are many others who are in the same boat if not in bigger messes! and this can help in looking at your own problems from a totally different angle, an angle which sheds light on the fact that "may be my problems arent that big after all!"

just an observation :)

Chaitali great post. I'm shocked to hear that 90% won't seek help. I wonder, in a world where men are getting more slick at looking good, using charm, language and many more frills at wooing why are they still so petrified of that little organ. And you know under the covers they probably all are. Do they really think the woman will write them off over a little misfire?
I think this is a great piece and if I was a man I would read it carefully & really think.

Oops I wrote on the wrong piece. Can someone fix it please?

Harb

Still with the 'man jeetey jag jeet' part! Hoping that will do it for me lol!

Aachi
Thanks Bud! I guess it must be about having drunk water at so many shores one is forced to plumb many depths.

Shalini
What you say is true! all comes with its light and dark. Unfortunately no matter how much suffering we encounter the victim within us usually harps on and on unless given space to sing out its full theme song. I guess because the truth of healing is coded in the mystery of self-referral.

ok, may you win over your man lol!

harb

Harb, Jasjit, in those two lines of play... its a world of discovery.. beautiful! thank you.

Makes me wonder.. do the names we are given also belong in the scheme of things? with all their karmic refelections, shadows, imprints? Sometimes, it feels like they do..Would love to hear your thoughts..

sukanya, i would think so, more so because i see nothing outside of the pale of sot (scheme of things).

the first two words 'su' of your name are common with the name we recently gave to my granddaughter, e.g, sumaya. su means all that is positive/good...though what it exactly means you may know more so i would request you to tell me. so sukanya is good girl and sumaya is good maya...lol maya is both good and bad...bad if one gets hopelessly entangled in it but good if one lives in it in a playful mood...action in inaction, inaction in action way...we hope our gd will go through the world in this way...

perhaps jas of jasjit means adoration...eh jasjit? so jasjit's parents must have thought that their girl will win the adoration of the world. and as we can see rightly so...

sundar, of course, is obviously sundar as one can see from his pic, just as aachi is achha...good lol.

harbhajan as i already explained is har plus bhajan. bhajan of god, or song in praise of god...no wonder i almost always try to bring the biggest picture into the conversations...

ananda anandam

harb, there was a maharashtrian saint-singer, Tukaram,who has sung "Je Je hoeel Te Te pahave, tuka mhane ughe rahave..." whatever is happening, just keep watching...tuka says, just be...

names have been known to have karmic connects..as they have histories of thought associations with them..names of rivers when given to people have a tendency to make them restless..so also shyam, the pining aspect of krishna...some healing processes take this into account while addressing issues.

Harb, in real life, my name has been a huge confusion to me always.. accomplished I'd say about the 'su'. its the "Su" part that's at the root of it..definitions of good and positive.. one gets stuck there.. from very early on I remember being very uncomfortable, and always wondered why scholar Dadaji couldn't find any other name for me.. His book, a kavya "Sukanya" was published the day I was born, probably suited my kanya rashi also, since it is my horoscope name..he was the only one in the family, who insisted on calling me by that name, others would use pet names mostly. Being around him, in my early years, reading, reciting to him, so that he would correct my Sanskrit diction and comprehension..left me with a very formal, not myself kind of feeling that never went away. Having never fitted in, I've always wondered about what Sundar calls karmic connects.. and karmic lessons.. and what is karm katna..

Its all cosmic play... thank you for great shares..

yes, sukanya, i can well understand this 'formal' kind of feeling. thrown into a goody goody straightjacket of an image you missed your real self and its natural pranks. in some way it was the same with me vis-a-vis the saint image. i first broke free of it at 28 when i sort of played hell with all things goody goody - cut hair, smoked around 40 cigarettes a day(strictly banned in our religion) gambled, wallowed in ill-gotten money, women and what not. the rebellion lasted for about ten years.

i was 38 when i left all that and touched my roots in an introspective inner journey, from which i came back with the insight of my book. now that too is out of my system though and i am again free looking for the next hint from nature's sot.

probably it was this same rebellion which forced you to separate from our husband....one can undrstand a woman's situation in such circumstances will be far more difficult...but then it too is in the nature's sot so there must have been a way to bear it all and move on. the important thing is not to lose confidence in sot or god whatever you prefer to call it. all considered, by giving us life, by bringing us into this world god has still oblgated us to him. it is as well possible that we hve never been here, what would e hve done then, to whom we would have complained then, so whatever we have, whatever difficult situations we have to face, we, as you must be knowing, are still in gratitude of god or sot.

now you are at 38. i see it as a very crucial period in your lie's journey. having got rid of that constricting image now you can look afresh at life, at what you really are and who knows in the process you may too find a way out to express your real self...which must be great as it has come out of all the above difficult situations. i can only guess of course and wish you all the best. the next couple of years will be crucial for it.

harb.

sundar, yes, every person who has seen the sot from the deepest will say so. in fact krishna or ved vyasa too was such a person. it is a scietific fact that our apparent world is only .001% of what is underground or unmanifest but which propells whatever happens here from below.

here is a relevant quote from my book:

[What is implied...is that what we call empty space contains an immense background of energy, and that matter as we know of it is a small “quantized” wavelike excitation on top of this background, rather like a tiny ripple on a vast sea.’]

and yes, even a tiny ripple further within this tiny ripple affects the whole, so one cn see that everything is connected to everything else and even to giving people names...

and we may even go beyond in qualifying this sot into sacred and non-sacred. it is...otherwise everything is sacred.

harb

Hi Harb, Sukanya

Went to hear His Holiness Dalai Lama speak on Science and Spirituality this morning. It has been a quie, reflective day. The grace in his energy field never ceases to amaze me and everytime I enter it my eyes fill up with tears. Compassion and love just flow in evergrowing waves of wonder from him whether he speaks or remains silent. He was inaugutating a 3 day seminar of scientific and spiritual luminaries from all over the world in Delhi. His pet interest now and part of his Mind and Life Institute. Harb it is the new century of the new man. Spirituality is being expressed by many through the confluence of science and the findings are drawing many to its fold. It is the time for books like yours to create the foundation for the new man/woman whom Osho so aptly caled Zorba the Buddha.

Love the name of your grandaughter, Sumaya. The vibratory field created by a name is very powerful. Unfortunately people have no idea how critical its power over their destiny is. Especially the formal name given at birth. Foolishly people add nick names which often counter the power and force that the original name brings and continue to call adults by riduculous name like bubbly, gudiya etc. Harb all the people I know with your name have a powerful spiritual quest and a great ability for trasncendence. My father gave me my name and I did not like it and spent many years trying to lose/change it. Well it just would not budge.

Sukanya your name in essence means the positive aspect of the undiluted Yin. Not the 'good daughter' which has been hounding you. Now imagine the kind of blessing you draw with a name like that. Karma has therefore underlined that in returning to that undiliuted Yin you will first move far away from it (feminine roles will be destructive in your upbringing) struggle as a female to love and nurture, get trapped almost self-destructively through them in anger and helplessness. Now when you decide to make the journey back from that Maya, you will know that the healing/trasncending/resolving force will come both as a jourey and as a goal of the undiluted Yin. So my dear your name has been playing out its promise quite accurately.

Harb I don't think Aachi's name means good. He has mentioned elswhere that his name meant granmother. The wise, ripened, nurturing Yin! Is he not that?

we are surronded by millions of vibratory fields like names, numbers, places, people which have direct impact. The ancient wisdom of numerology, Vaastu, astrology etc was an indiction to this truth. In the absence of seeing them as signposts we swing either in rejecion or mindless subjugation to them. Naturally mising the point.

jasjit, today while you yourself are showering grace, your name to me could also mean the winner of grace, for looking in an other way 'jas' can also mean grace. look at the world and it can mean wordly adoration, looking a bit beyond it can as well mean the adoration of gods, and which would rather be more true in your case as your dhyana has always been rather on that higher world or truth.

and your seeing my book among others as laying a foundation for a new man/woman has sent me into ananda anandam. i have always considered it so and in fact when deepak chopra talked of new humanity on his blog i wrote to him that for a new humanity you need a new philosophy and for a new philosophy you need a new book containing that philosophy (like marx's das capital for communism) and i think my book can give you that.

what you say must be true for aachi, i did not know it i just commented by changing aachi to hindi word achha. though i think as time passes he will have to forgo all that to eventually become all that - the wise, ripened, nurturing yin. though i wonder why he cant be wise, ripened, life-giving yang lol.

yes, slowly we are becoming holistic and taking all aspects of life such as numerology, vaastu into account.

interesting to note about all my namesakes having great ability to transcedence. in fact it reminds me of an interesting incident of my own life. when i was around tenth class, a boy from an other school joined our school and soon became my best friend. his name was also harbhajan singh. much later i came to know from him that a couple of generations ago an other saint of the same shaheed line had given his gaddi to one of his relatives from whom it came to his mama ji and then mama ji asked his mother to keep it and give it to her youngest son when he becomes a bit elder. till 50 harbhajan refused to accept it but eventually was forced to accept it as his son became critically ill and sombody told him that he will have to accept that gaddi if he wants to save his son. now he is sitting fully attired in a saint's chola at his village and people throng his dera near harike. of course he is my friend even to this day. he often says "you will also come here some day" while i say to him, "dont say so otherwise you will leave it again if i argued with you a bit, though we both enjoy each others banter and understand each other's position. throughout our friendship he accepted my influence and in fact he may have accepted the gaddi even earlier if he was not under my influence.

jasjit, what is the address of dalai lama's Mind and Life Institute? should i send the book to him?

also pl throw some more light on osho's zorba the buddha. i have heard about it but would like to know more.

harb

Jasjit ji
Interesting piece with a heavy lingo at places. It's true in many cases that when one has lost a battle for oneself, he can fiercely fight it for others. But is it always like that? What about destiny?
I am glad that we are in a profession where we can take a deep swim in an issue and come out to drown in the next.
Anyways we have got the idea of what our next film should talk about- healing the healers!!

tx harb.looks like a day of coincidences in the context of time spent..
my late afternoon was spent speaking on Science and Spirituality to a study circle comprising of scientists from the DAE( Dept of Atomic Energy)at their training school as part of my routine spiritual university work.i was speaking on impacts on frontal and pariental lobes in processes of self and god realization today.
also a couple of my colleagues had a detailed interaction with The Dalai Lama recently during the kalachakra processes in south india and we are in process towards possibly initiating some common explores on biological and other processes connected to enlightenment...
the coincidences just struck me as i saw the same topics being discussed here..

while appreciating jasjit's take on sukanya's name, i also see a pattern manifest of rejection of karmic nuances which is quite routine in evolutionary spaces on our way to growth...the cycle of dependence-independence and finally the dawn of inter-dependence ina recognition of things as they are...also jasjit,have observed that sometimes nicknames come in to play karmic roles as part of the sot...expecially in south indian cultures where it is routine to automatically adopt a grandparent's name and then add a nickname to avoid confusions while the grandparent is still alive.as a matter of info, sundar is my nickname right at birth while srinivasan is my name adopted from legacy.was actually given a nickname shyamsundar, but shyam seems to have dropped off as part of the sot.

Talking of names, well, mine is one that needs no explanation as to why i would want to lose it. A beautiful name indeed but it takes the life out of me when I have to say it to someone for the first time (and especially difficult if that person is not Bengali). And my misery is raised to the power of infinity when I need to say it over the phone! I cant even begin to tell you guys the various distortions of my name that I have heard. Quite painful really!

Today I have a whole list of different names (short forms obviously) that I am addressed with - given by different people or groups, friends, family, acquaintances. sometimes I get confused when I am signing off my emails, wondering, "what does this person call me??" lol...

But I do love the name, so long as I dont have to say it to anyone :)

My 3 given names are: Donna Doreen Marie... I've never liked my name Donna... too dull and drab... it didnt' "sing"! But, Donna means "Lady" or, "Lady of the House." Ok, I can live with that!!

Donna sounds different pronounced in French, English and British... sounds best in English!! lol

In French, sounds like donut, without the t; in Brit, sounds like donner.... lol

My favorite name in the whole world though; which was given me seventeen years ago is: Mom!

North

Dear Shubz

its lovely, its yours, showers grace on all as it promises and epitomizes you. No wonder such an introduction causes such havoc with other's ears, lol!

North
There are actually four names when you include North. Now all you have to do is figure out which one shall be the crest since it is quite a gift to have all four elements in your name but then being pulled in four directions is the price you pay, lol.

Sundar
Srinivasan is your family name then isn't it? Sundar or Shyam sundar is your name rather than a nick name for it identifies you.

Meenakshi & Vinay

Sorry for the lingo! Great film idea!!! That should really get us on everyone's hit list lol! But truly it would unleash a whole tanker of worms.

No I don't think its either or. Often you don't have the power/means/courage to fight your own battle. Fighting for others brings all the things you need to fight for yourself. But the point is we forget where our own war starts and ends. When we nurture a wound too long we start to fight twisted battles (because the wound has morphed into something else in our psyche from neglect. Revisiting that memory and healing it is frankly the only way not to nurture new demons.

Harb

Thanks for all those wonderful interpretations of my name. And yes Harbhajan is a name which calls to itself great blessing.

will get you the address of the Institute soon and of course you should send them your book.

Will write on Zorba the Buddha tommorrow. Have had a long day. Good night!

not really jasjit....we do not have the concept of surnames..we are iyers though it does not feature in the name....my official name is srinivasan vaidyanathan , where vaidyanathan is my dad's name.srinivasan is a name i automatically inherit from my paternal grandfather; a tradition which has its roots in the concept of shraddha, the yearly obsequies one performs for forefathers spread over 3 generations..it helps easier recollection for ritualistic needs...in this essentially vedic concept,the traditional names are normally the names of Gods/deities...both srinivasan and vaidyanathan are thus....sundar is so much my name now that i may not always respond to srinivasan....use a combo, sundar srinivasan on my visiting card too as my designers at CRY wanted to eliminate confusions...and it just came to stay...shyamsundar, though given by my maternal grandfather, never seems to have been used...just remained as sundar...
though all formal transactions happen in my formal name.

Jasjit,
thank you for the signposts... you explain it so beautifully.. touches the core inside somewhere. Lucky you, to be there in His Holiness's presence.. couldn't say it better... I was in his presence briefly, only once at Mahendragiri, a Tibetan refugee settlement in Orissa, in the Eastern Ghats.. and carry the sense the touch the feel of it all even today.. you are so right... enveloped in compassion and love, tears just flow unhindered, washing away the harshness, the hurt the pain.. tears are so natural unto themselves.. healing, rejuvenating..

Harb and Sundar, Thanks... your shares help so much.. in expanding one's perspective, understanding..

Hi North, how is you? You are always a breath of fresh air..

Shubhoshree, its auspicious and integrally beautiful.. you epitomize it..

When today I reflect on my name... these are the thoughts that come to me.. I was named Sukanya Sundari (duhhh..!!)Rath (rath is the only surname where all raths belong to the same gotra - atreya, rig vedic brahmins) based on my horoscope... the second name never took off ... thank God! Never fitted into either the "good" or the "girl" aspects for a long long time... Starting from infancy, through childhood, and adolescence into adulthood, male influences have been predominant always.. my interests, preoccupations and inclinations were therefore never "good girl" either.. so much so that the su used to get subsituted by "ku"... and the hurt from that sarcasm of being called "ku"kanya got embedded somewhere..

When I think of it...this is what I see as a connect, a vibration.. my mythical namesake in the Mahabharata was a beautiful accomplished learned princess, reigned over her realms and her gifts.. yet she did as she pleased..she was driven by impulse and passion... which led her to blind Chyavan Rishi in a momentary lapse because she thought his eyes were fireflies in the ant heap he had become during his tapasya.. and thereafter she had to give up all comforts, all she was, all that she belonged to, in order to serve him in the forest where his sadhana was... to make up for causing him such a grievous loss.. and eventually, in due course her dedication to Chyavan rishi transformed to devotion and love for her husband... she was tested constantly.. and in closure, when the Ashwini twins tried seducing her she was able to stand her ground, of absolute commitment and fidelity.. and she won the boon of eternal youth, not for herself but for Chyavan Rishi... and he was restored from old age to eternal youth... and left his legacy in Ayurveda - which is the healing of mind, body and spirit..

I see a great karmic lesson there, from impulse and passion, to steadying of the mind body and spirit.. sadhana in everyday life.. and detachment from material comforts, towards spiritual fulfillment and harmony...

Harb, I am only beginning the journey, just been initiated..haven't come out of it yet... but do hope to.. like Sukanya was enabled to, in the days of yore..

lol
s

Hi Sukyana, doing ok here i guess, thanks for asking.

North

Dear jasjit,

Thank you :)

Thanks Sukanya for the nice words!

Good Morning everyone!

Jasjit

I agree with you that 99% of us work for a cause for our own reasons, self satisfaction.

To redeem ourselves, to heal or name and fame, but does that make it wrong or unhelpful or selfish? I think not.

When i moved to Bombay 4 years ago i had a 7 year old and a 1 year old. I had worked at a 9-5 job for the last 16 years, so i decided to stay back home and be a housewife and play "ghar ghar" with my children ( my impression of a housewife in my childhood was playing "ghar ghar" and i found it a great way to entertain myself on a hot summer vacation afternoon).Well, while it was great being home, i still needed a purpose in life as it was also more enjoyable to be with my children if i took some time off from them.Plus for my own individual self.

I got a chance to work as a volunteer with Cry. Our mission was to visit the Priveleged children of private schools and bring awareness about the not so priveleged children, who do not get the same oportunites.This exercise was done through interactive workshops and visits to slum schools and a one on one interaction between these children(the priveleged and the under priveleged.

To come back to the point, as you justly said, we were a team of bored housewives and young corporates who felt the need to give back to sciety and many more such varied set of individuals with their own reasons. They were all working hard in their private lives and they all did some social service for personal gains. We were a committed lot.

My question, where did we go wrong? Yes, we were all there for the self, but just by taking the step to do a selfless act with full committment is, for the lack of anything better to say "a selfless act".

For the same programme, the first days brief bagan with the person telling us just one thing, that we needed to say to the children before we began the exercise,this was also for us to feel comfortable with the children who we were hoping to help.

This was what she had to say "The first emotion we feel when we meet people less priveleged than us is, sorry and then an overwhelming feeling of guilt.We need not feel that way, cause our parents or someone in our family too worked hard for what we enjoy today. We need to help these children learn and help educate or gain skills, so they can strive for similar goals for themselves, their families or children".

It worked for me,i am happy to be where i am and i do wish to continue bringing awareness in the young about giving just that little in their lives.Its the same thing we ask of our own children when we ask them to share their chocalate etc.Sharing.

I guess it can be said share with some care:).Thus it may be a selfish motive of personal gain to begin with but it ultimately transforms itself into a gain for others(generally).

Just an aside the programme is doing very well now, though i had dropped out for personal educational goals after a year.

Interesting stuff. Couldn't understand all of it but some parts made sense. As for my name its been overdone by Shah Rukh Khan so I really don't know whether to like it or dislike it :)

my new, just-finished creation...

Butterfly in Transparent Cocoon

http://groups.msn.com/SpiritsoftheFourWinds

North

North

Beautiful butterflies! fascinating colours and themes. Great work!

thanks Jasjit; I love to spend time making pictres from nothing; but, I see I put the link to my Spirits-msn site...I meant to put this one(blush)a direct link to it:

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06062/red.bfly2.jpg

hosted at a free pic hosting site...

the longest part to do; was creating the centre of the butterfly!! whew! lol I have it on my desktop..looks wonderful!! I put the x600 desktop wallpaper size on the pichost site; but, when I viewed it; it shows a pressed-glass look...which is very disappointing...must be the high resolution?

glad it made you smile Jasjit..

North

thanks Jasjit; I love to spend time making pictres from nothing; but, I see I put the link to my Spirits-msn site...I meant to put this one(blush)a direct link to it:

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06062/red.bfly2.jpg

hosted at a free pic hosting site...

the longest part to do; was creating the centre of the butterfly!! whew! lol I have it on my desktop..looks wonderful!! I put the x600 desktop wallpaper size on the pichost site; but, when I viewed it; it shows a pressed-glass look...which is very disappointing...must be the high resolution?

glad it made you smile Jasjit..

North

Dear North

That was really beautiful and delicate. Thanks for the link

love
Anusheh

Dear North,

That is simply gorgeous!!! Great colour combo! :)

Hi everyone!

Thankyou Shubhosree : )

My pleasure is in creating...."anything" colourful.. it reflects my inner haven(smiles.)

North

hey north, for some reason your links do not open up for me...am i not destined to see your great works of art in the sot?

Hi Sundar, just copy and paste the whole link into your browser address bar...I just tried it, and it worked?

I just replied to your new blog; and posted 2 more links to my 2 new poem on designs finished tonight(smile.)

Here they are again,,as they wouldn't post in your blog...it says "will read the post" first thingy?

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06065/poem.exist2.ds.jpg

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06065/poem.thehour2.ds.jpg

I did the designs, then brought them into a program to clad in leather frames.

North

I just posted to you sundar, and it didn't GO...ugggh!!

I just copied and pasted the bflyred link above, and it worked Sundar?

Here's 2 more just made tonight: 2 of my poems in my designs, then framed in leather )Oooh(

North

OK, just tried an experiment!! ONE link can be posted and GO...paste 2 links, and it goes to the "review" place in space first...

Here's the other 1st poem: as I see I forgot to paste it.......sheesh!! I got 3 left thumbs tonight!!

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06065/poem.exist2.ds.jpg

North

just retried and it worked..beautiful express and so vibrant...glad i did not miss it!

Uh oh,,,am I caught spamming? not intentional though here's poem 2:

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06065/poem.thehour2.ds.jpg

North

Thanks Sundar..butterflies are my favorite "thing."

North

lol sonnenburg , as long as tehy are not in your stomach...the poems are beautiful and so aesthetically mounted.....

Thanks again, Sundar(blush) I used different programs..and that's the result. I've had a creative block this past few weeks..red was inspired in the butterfly; b/c of traditionally celebrated Valentine's Day..approaching.

Oooh, I get butterflies in my stomach still, from time to time..

North