It is true - some things cannot be taught, they ought to be learnt. How many times have we heard the "early to bed, early to rise" advise.
Starting this week, and its been only two days I know, I retire to bed pretty early. I am trying to get myself into a pattern of waking up early. I like to start my day slow. No hush hush. Wake up, shower, prayers, tea and glide through that to work. Its now been 15 years at work. Long time it feels already! With another 25 to go at best, I dont want to carry this with the chaotic madness of a raging bull.
Waking up early also gives me a much longer and a much more energetic day in view of its length to do things. It also helps balance the different aspects of life rather than looking at a day from only one standpoint - work. To me, I like to accomplish several aspects in a day - spirituality, family, work, social, routine responsibilities and personal. Some, I do like to focus more on the weekends, but I havent been very impressed by leaving a bulk of this list to weekends. It doesnt work well in the longer run. It is best to establish and follow a routine that balances things on a consistent basis and it will get in as a habit.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Memoirs of a momentous occasion
We finally embarked on our much awaited trip on April 6th. Following an assiduous attempt to ensure that all paper-work and documentation was in order, and finally dozing off at 4 am the same morning, we started our journey at around 1 pm.
We first reached the US Customs and declared the greens we carried in cashiers check. Having done that, we got back into our car and fired the engines. And then, it was the moment! We went up to the Canadian border at Blaine and proudly declared, "We're landing!".
15 long months of persuasion, innumerable photocopies, notarizings, Fedexs, passport photos and all in all, a good five grand of investment now awaited fruition.
What followed next was all too smooth and may be categorized as mundane. We went up to the Immigration, presented our papers, provided a Canadian address for mailing our Permanent Residence cards and were finally greeted with a smile and "Congratulations!". Though I had expected the immigration officer to greet us with the very standard and curiously awaited, "Welcome to Canada!", I believe, the radiating familiarity of my recent frequent visits to the country dissuaded him from doing so at the cost of sounding artificial. Next, it was the Customs and none too different. Our arduously prepared Goods to Follow list were stamped and acknowledged. We were waved a bbye, and yoooohoooo, we were on our way into Canada as permanent residents.
Ah, the joy of km/h speed limits, the term petrol, the measurement in litres and back to the world of DD/MM/YY!
The next day, we applied for our Social Insurance Numbers stayed for a day more and toured a few suburbs around Vancouver before again crossing the border to return to the US.
One thing I have to say. The whole border crossing thing, the fact that you are crossing over to another country by road, in a car, gives me a kick. I have now done this for a few times, but then again, everytime I do it, I scream in utter excitement as I pass the border officials to step into the respective country.
Anyway, for now I am basking in the newly attained PR status, which for once, means a lot to me - simply because, now, you cant kick me out just because I dont have a job! And I so love the idea of leaving jobs at will and vacationing for a month or two! Lets see if I can really do that now.
Viva le Canada!
We first reached the US Customs and declared the greens we carried in cashiers check. Having done that, we got back into our car and fired the engines. And then, it was the moment! We went up to the Canadian border at Blaine and proudly declared, "We're landing!".
15 long months of persuasion, innumerable photocopies, notarizings, Fedexs, passport photos and all in all, a good five grand of investment now awaited fruition.
What followed next was all too smooth and may be categorized as mundane. We went up to the Immigration, presented our papers, provided a Canadian address for mailing our Permanent Residence cards and were finally greeted with a smile and "Congratulations!". Though I had expected the immigration officer to greet us with the very standard and curiously awaited, "Welcome to Canada!", I believe, the radiating familiarity of my recent frequent visits to the country dissuaded him from doing so at the cost of sounding artificial. Next, it was the Customs and none too different. Our arduously prepared Goods to Follow list were stamped and acknowledged. We were waved a bbye, and yoooohoooo, we were on our way into Canada as permanent residents.
Ah, the joy of km/h speed limits, the term petrol, the measurement in litres and back to the world of DD/MM/YY!
The next day, we applied for our Social Insurance Numbers stayed for a day more and toured a few suburbs around Vancouver before again crossing the border to return to the US.
One thing I have to say. The whole border crossing thing, the fact that you are crossing over to another country by road, in a car, gives me a kick. I have now done this for a few times, but then again, everytime I do it, I scream in utter excitement as I pass the border officials to step into the respective country.
Anyway, for now I am basking in the newly attained PR status, which for once, means a lot to me - simply because, now, you cant kick me out just because I dont have a job! And I so love the idea of leaving jobs at will and vacationing for a month or two! Lets see if I can really do that now.
Viva le Canada!
Bardo Thodol
"Watched" The Tibetan book of Dead (Bardo Thodol) - a presentation on the subject. Simply beyond words. A commendable attempt to capture the subject the book so beautifully enlightens you through. I remember reading halfway through the book a good 5-6 years back. And then I realized I was not ready to appreciate or understand the meaning in its entirety. Now after a long time, knowing my interest in the subject, Gauri picked up this DVD from the library.
As always Death and Dying have been my pleasant interests. I have never viewed death or dying as something akin to obliteration or oblivion. I do not know if it is because I don’t want to face it that way or if it is the conditioning of my religion. But it is something I like and I want to believe in. To me, Death and dying is very similar to the sleep we fall into at night and then wake up in the morning. Its just that the experience and the associations may be on a different scale and plane. But the approach should be similar. If we are not prepared for the day that shall dawn at the night we fall asleep, we wake up directionless and just trudge on. Just as it is important to know/prepare/plan/act today to be ready for the tomorrow that we seek, it is important to know/prepare/plan/act and get ready for the inevitable continuum of life, death.
We are somehow conditioned to view our identity only as our body, our relationships, our desires, our aspirations. And because we do that, we are limited by what we think. Of course, it is on us; what and how we think about the different projections of ourselves. We have fears, apprehensions, our portrayal of joy, happiness, our definitions of insecurities, our yardsticks of success and failure. When we (think of it as the body) die, all associations with our body are severed. Be it painful or pleasing. It appears to be painful. I mean, imagine we lose the sensation of touch, the ability of sight slowly withers, we cant "see" our family and friends anymore, our ability to hear slowly dwindles as we progress through dying, our sense of smell dies down. Imagine how would you view yourself as someone who cant hear, who cant see, who cant feel a touch, who cant hear or who cant smell. Now, while it appears very painful and very depressing, imagine someone in severe physical pain - someone who is handicapped, someone who is ailing, someone who is in pain for some years. As the body dies, the senses wither, all this pain goes. But with the pain, the gross identity of the person leaves as well. Now, for some of us, this identity, characterized by different things our life has led us through, might be very important, something very dear to us. We may have a good life, good family, be financially well off, a loving spouse, a child we love very dearly and a social standing we are proud of :). Why would we want to give it up. Sure, we are attached to it. But dying is inevitable. Like it or not, the day will come, we will breathe our last and our gross aspects will detach itself and will be on the way out. Whether we like our existence and our identity or not, we will have to leave it. If we are prepared in terms of detachment, in terms of what's to come next, our transition will be something filled with awareness.
The different ashrams of life help us prepare and lead us through this path. The joy of the Brahmacharya ashram - childhood, learning in grace of an illumined teacher; the grihastashashram, the vanprasthashram and eventually the sanyasashram. We are fulfilling the duties of different stages of life, realizing our purpose, fulfilling it, and then as we pass through the different phases, we eventually ready ourselves for the final transition. Vanprasthashram and Sanyasashram lead us and ready us through the transition that is Dying.
What we will carry with us in life will follow us in death. Fear, Hope, Love, Hatred, Faith, everything. Our religions are not purposeless. Their aim is to provide a framework for us to lead a life that follows the best practices experienced by seers and hence is an assurance of a life filled with the positives. Thereby preparing the baggage that we shall carry with us in our death, until being born again to fulfill what's been pending as in the baggage.
As always Death and Dying have been my pleasant interests. I have never viewed death or dying as something akin to obliteration or oblivion. I do not know if it is because I don’t want to face it that way or if it is the conditioning of my religion. But it is something I like and I want to believe in. To me, Death and dying is very similar to the sleep we fall into at night and then wake up in the morning. Its just that the experience and the associations may be on a different scale and plane. But the approach should be similar. If we are not prepared for the day that shall dawn at the night we fall asleep, we wake up directionless and just trudge on. Just as it is important to know/prepare/plan/act today to be ready for the tomorrow that we seek, it is important to know/prepare/plan/act and get ready for the inevitable continuum of life, death.
We are somehow conditioned to view our identity only as our body, our relationships, our desires, our aspirations. And because we do that, we are limited by what we think. Of course, it is on us; what and how we think about the different projections of ourselves. We have fears, apprehensions, our portrayal of joy, happiness, our definitions of insecurities, our yardsticks of success and failure. When we (think of it as the body) die, all associations with our body are severed. Be it painful or pleasing. It appears to be painful. I mean, imagine we lose the sensation of touch, the ability of sight slowly withers, we cant "see" our family and friends anymore, our ability to hear slowly dwindles as we progress through dying, our sense of smell dies down. Imagine how would you view yourself as someone who cant hear, who cant see, who cant feel a touch, who cant hear or who cant smell. Now, while it appears very painful and very depressing, imagine someone in severe physical pain - someone who is handicapped, someone who is ailing, someone who is in pain for some years. As the body dies, the senses wither, all this pain goes. But with the pain, the gross identity of the person leaves as well. Now, for some of us, this identity, characterized by different things our life has led us through, might be very important, something very dear to us. We may have a good life, good family, be financially well off, a loving spouse, a child we love very dearly and a social standing we are proud of :). Why would we want to give it up. Sure, we are attached to it. But dying is inevitable. Like it or not, the day will come, we will breathe our last and our gross aspects will detach itself and will be on the way out. Whether we like our existence and our identity or not, we will have to leave it. If we are prepared in terms of detachment, in terms of what's to come next, our transition will be something filled with awareness.
The different ashrams of life help us prepare and lead us through this path. The joy of the Brahmacharya ashram - childhood, learning in grace of an illumined teacher; the grihastashashram, the vanprasthashram and eventually the sanyasashram. We are fulfilling the duties of different stages of life, realizing our purpose, fulfilling it, and then as we pass through the different phases, we eventually ready ourselves for the final transition. Vanprasthashram and Sanyasashram lead us and ready us through the transition that is Dying.
What we will carry with us in life will follow us in death. Fear, Hope, Love, Hatred, Faith, everything. Our religions are not purposeless. Their aim is to provide a framework for us to lead a life that follows the best practices experienced by seers and hence is an assurance of a life filled with the positives. Thereby preparing the baggage that we shall carry with us in our death, until being born again to fulfill what's been pending as in the baggage.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Fluctuations
Had to share this. Thanks, Hems!
An Asian man walked into the currency exchange in New York City with 2000 yen and walked out with $72. The following week, he walked in with 2000 yen, and was handed $66. He asked the teller why he got less money that week than the previous week.
The teller said, "Fluctuations."
The Asian man stormed out, and just before slamming the door, turned around and shouted, "Fluc you Amelicans, too!"
An Asian man walked into the currency exchange in New York City with 2000 yen and walked out with $72. The following week, he walked in with 2000 yen, and was handed $66. He asked the teller why he got less money that week than the previous week.
The teller said, "Fluctuations."
The Asian man stormed out, and just before slamming the door, turned around and shouted, "Fluc you Amelicans, too!"
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