Nepal, the country of Gods and Goddesses

सुनको मुल्ले के भयो 
नक्कली सुन छाप् - छाप्टी  भएपछि, 
पढेको के काम लग्यो  
"चाट जीपिटि" आएपछि, 

कुन साँचो हो

कुन झुटो हो 

छुट्याउनै गाह्रो भो, 

मनमा उर्लिएका बेदनालाई 

आज खेख्नै पर्ने भो।  

  

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मन्दिर र तीर्थस्तान अनगिन्ति  बने नेपालमा, 

साधु र स्वामी गनी नसक्नु भए, 

तर मान्छेले भने 

झूठो बोल्न छाड्नु त परै  जावस, 

झूठो र डाँकाबादी बाटै अरब बनाए।  

के के मात्रै भएन नेपालमा?

पौंच हुनेले जे जे गरे पनि भयो,

नहुनेहरुले चाही आत्मा हत्या गर्नु पर्यो 

बाल बच्चाको पेट पाल्न नसकेर। 

 

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"बिदेसमा एउटा भन्दा बेसी मानिश सित सुत्छान् रे" 

भनेर खिल्ली गर्थे नेपालीहरु,

आज नेपाली समाचारमा सुने: 

"सरिरिक सम्बन्ध हुने सबै सित बिबाह गरेर सध्हे हुदैन"

भनेर।   

बलात्कार गर्नेलाई जेलमा हाल्नु त  परे जवस,

बलात्कार हुनेले चाही "जधौ" भनेर माफी माग्न पर्ने रे।  

**************

यो शिवले रमाएको देश,

सीताले जन्मलिएकी देश 

नेपालीहरुले 

"बुद्ध नेपालमै जन्मेका हुन्" भनेर 

अक्तिवर अथवा स्वमित्य जनाएका देश।  

देबी - देवता गल्ली - गल्लीमा 

भएका देस,

पुराण र प्रबचन भन्ने र सुन्नेहरुको धुईरो 

भएको देश,

मान्छेले मान्छेलाईनै बेचेर खाईराखेका छन् । 

भागुबन छन् त काहाँ छन्?

नाये छन् त कहाँ छन्?

एक चोटी जान्न मन छ। 

 

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कसैलाई कसैको न त मायाँ छ, 

न त कसैको आत्माको सरापको डर नै।    

नेताहरुलाई मात्रै हैन 

सबै जशो नेपालीहरुलाई आज 

पैशाको मात्रै डर छ।  

मनले नमानेर मात्रै लेखेकी हुँ,

ऐले पनि केहि हुने वाला छैन।   

सुन काण्ड जस्तै,

बलात्कार काण्ड जस्तै, 

पहिला पहिलाका 

झुस काण्ड  जस्तै,

एसपालाको काण्ड पनि 

मिलाऊलन् यिनले।  

 

People’s Wellbeing and their Selfishness

 I’m a social entrepreneur. I am constantly watching people’s behaviours and their welfare. It has become my habit. I don’t have to try doing this consciously.

 

There is a direct link between a person’s motive and his/her wellbeing. I’ve noticed a totally selfish person ending up in a total isolation later in life. I’ve also noticed the selfish person is usually illiterate and unkind to others. This makes perfect sense to me.

 

One can’t be totally selfish when he/she is aware of the ‘universal laws’. A ‘spiritual’ person can’t help his/herself feeling good or bad when coming across unjust, unethical, or kind and caring actions of others. Selfish person don’t know what you give to others will come back to him/her sooner or later. 

 

Our thoughts are energy. Our actions carry loads of energy—because thoughts come before action. Energy never die out!

 

कृतज्ञता/Gratitude on theThanksgiving Day

क्यानडामा कृतज्ञता देखाउने दिन (Thanksgiving Day) त दुई दिन पछि मात्रै आउछ। तर हाम्रो छोरा छोरीहरुले आज थानक्सगिविंग मनाउदै छन् अटोवामा। हाम्रा तिनै छोरा छोरी हरु खानाका पारखी छन्। आ -आफ्नै हिसाबले मिठो पकाऊ छन्। हामी यहाँ भएपनि तिनै जना नजिकै भएकाले भाई र दिदीहरु मिलेर  थनक्सगिविंग को मिठो -मिठो पकाउदै छन् उनीहरु। यी सबकालागि म धरै धरै कृतज्ञ छु !

तर मेरो एसपालीको मुखे कृतज्ञता चाहि मेरो माइली आमाजू (दिदिहजुर) मा समर्पण छ।  दिदिहजुर मेरो र मेरो श्रीमानको लागि आमाजू र दिदीजु मात्र नभएर सासू र आमा सरह होइसिन्छ। उहाँ घरमा भैबक्सेकोले मेरो श्रीमानले देश बिदेश गर्न पाइबक्सीयो। उहाँ घरमा भैबक्सेकोले हाम्रो "घर"  छ नेपालमा।  अरू दिदि - बैनी हरुलाई "माइती" भनेर आउने बाटो छ।  भाई - भतिजा, भान्जा - भान्जी,  इस्ट - मित्र हरुलाई पनि हाम्रो मान्छे भनेर जाने बाटो छ।  यी सबैका लागि हामी--म र मेरो परिवार दिदिहजुको धरै धरै आभारी छौँ !

मलाई आज यो कुरा पनि लेख्न मन छ कि नेपालमा मात्र हैन धेरै समाजमा महिलाहरुको दुर दर्शिताको, साहसको परिख हुदैन। तेसकारणले धेरै परिवारको उन्नति पनि भाको छैन।  उद्दारणका लागि हाम्रो दिदिहजुरकै कुरा गरौ। मेरो ससुरजिउ बित्दा उहाँ  ४७ होइसिन्थीयो।  यो बत्तिश ३२ बर्ष आघिको कुरा हो।  तेती बेला सबैले भने: "आब इन्को (दिदिहजुरको) के होला?"। "कसरी बस्छिन?" । "कोसित बस्छिन?"… आदि आदि। कशै कशै ले त यति निच कुरा पनि गरे कि त्यो यहाँ  लेख्न पनि लाज लाग्छ ! बत्तिश (३२) बर्ष पछाडी यही दिदिहजुले एक्लै घर चलाएको मात्रै हैन उहाँले गरेको बेबहार, लगानी, हिसाब किताब देखेर तिनै मान्छे    छक् परेकाछन्।  

दिदिहजुर जस्ता धेरै महिलाहरु थिए / छन् यो संसारमा।  उनीहरुले मौका पाएनन्/पाइरहेका छैनन्।  उनीहरुको पारख भै राखेको छैन। आज यी सबै महिलाहरुमा मेरो येही आग्रह छ:  दुखः र शुख त आउछ जान्छ।सुखमा न मत्तिउ।  दु:खमा हरेश न खाऊ। सके जति राम्रो काम गर्दै जाऊ ता कि भोलिका छोरीहरुले "म महिला हुँ" "म यो काम गर्न सक्दिन"  नभनुन। जाचमा पाश गर्न मात्रै हैन जीवनमा परिआउने  सबै काममा पछाडी नहटुन। 

दिदिहजुरमा म र मेरो परिवारको कृतज्ञता 🙏💖

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

 

In the memory of my dear niece

खै के भनु

खै के लेखॅु

तिन दिन भयो मैले तिमिलाइ जता ततै खोजेको

जमिनको हरियो दुबोमा

फुल्दै गरेको टुलभमा (tulip)

हॅागामा बसेको चरामा

तलाऊमा पौडिरहेका हॅासहरुमा

अनि

रुखमा चराले लगाएको गुणमा

किनकि,

तिमि जो कुनै रुपमा पनि आउन सक्छेउ रे भनेर।

तर मैले कतै पनि तिम्रो सोरुप चिन्न सकिन।।

साहेद तिमि म सित रिसाएकि छौ कि

तिन दिन भैसक्दा पनि

मैले तिम्रो पृयतम् लाइ बोलाउन नसकेकीमा

तिम्रो मुटुका ट्क्राहरुलाइ नरोउ भन्न नसकेकीमा।

मन नभएर हैन

मायॅा नभएर पनि हैन

भन्ने सब्बद नपाएर मात्रै हो।।

खै के भनु

खै के लेखॅु

भाबनामा डुब्ने मेरो आदतै सानै देखि

अब त झन बेदान्ततिर लागेकि छु

यो संसार केहि होइन,

हामि माटोबाट आएम् अनि माटोमै मिल्नु छ

भन्ने पनि थाहॅाछ।

तर पनि किन हो कुन्नि

तिम्रो प्रस्थानले यो मन सारै डग् मगाएको छ।।

धेरै कुराको संझना आईरहेछ मलाई

तिमि हुर्किसके पछिको हैन

सानो बच्चामा छुनु मुनु गर्दाको याद।

मेरो बिहा भए पछि “म पनि भिनाजुसित बिहा गर्छु”

भन्ने बेलाको याद।।

हैरान छु मनको गहिराई भित्रका कुरा

यो पोष्टमा म कसरि उल्लेख गरु?

मानिसहरु भन्छन्

कोहि अरुको लिन जन्मंन्छन् रे

कोहि चाहि अरुलाइ दिन,

कोहि मानिस अरुलाई दुख:दिन

अनि कोही चाही अरुको दुख:लिन।

तिमि त सबैको दुख:लिन आएकि रहिछौ

समयमै सबैको रिण चुक्ता गरेर गयौ।

खै के भनु

खै के लेखॅु

बस यति जान

तिमिले जुन कामकोलादि जन्म लिएकि थियौ

ति सबै पुरा गर्न सकेकिमा गर्ब मान।।

तिमि जहॅा गयौ

जहॅा छौ

आरामसित बस।

 

Rest in peace my dear Sandhya

I will miss you so much!

The Story of Life

 

Our life is like a sheltering tree that started its journey from a tiny seed. Imagine the tree  providing a cool resting place and producing flowers/fruits to nourish others. Then the tree dies at the end of its life-cycles in order to make the space for other seeds to grow in its place. 
 
Knowing all this, however, it is the nature of some people that they aren’t capable of appreciating others—like a poisonous snake only capable of producing poison, even when you feed it the life-nourishing milk in all its life. A few other nature of things you may want to know:
 

One who can be cruel to animals is not capable of being a kind human 

One who hasn’t received a true love may not be able to give you one 

One who wish to ruin others’ reputation may end up losing his/her own.

Sekuwa or Poleko masu

Sekuwa has become one of the most selling appetizers in Nepal and its popularity is spreading beyond Nepal. However, sekuwa is just the old cuisine with a new name. For instance, almost all households in Nepal used a wood-burning stove to prepare their meals in the olden days. Those coals provided excellent energy to warm oneself up during the winter months, while cooking food.  The natural coal from the woods were the primary means of roasting sekuwa (poleko masu), potatoes, or corn-on-the-cob. 

 

My memory of the sekuwa or poleko masu is that the old and vulnerable lighted the coals in an earthen-pot and sat around to enjoy the warmth provided by it during the winter months. While doing it, I remember my siblings and I roasting a few pieces of good meat our parents handed to us --marinated deeply in the heavy spices-- just before preparing the meat kabab dish for the family.  

 

The piping hot poleko masu (or sekuwa as they’re famous now) tasted the best! Burning a makkal with a natural coal may not be feasible now, but you can do the next best thing using the outdoor charcoal grill--as you do for your barbequed meat--to prepare the most flavourful meat you can ever imagine!

 

Sisnu soup from Nepal

 Sisnu plant is commonly known as the "stinging nettle" in English. It is edible and is one of the native plants in Nepal.

Source: Stok photo from the Internet

The plant has numerous health benefits, according to sources. But the poor in Nepal eat sisnu not because of the health benefits, but because the plants are free for them to use. They pick the tender new shoots of sisnu with a pair of tongs (chimta in Nepali) to avoid the stings and cook it as their main meal. 

 

I grew up in Kathmandu where sisnu plants grew widely in wetlands, between woods, rocks, and shady hills. I had to pass these plants along the narrow paths at least twice a day to and from my school in Baneswor, which I still remember.

 

I don’t have the exact recipe for it, nor have I ever seen anybody preparing this dish. However, my mother was a very inquisitive woman. She had apparently cooked sisnu stir-fry for us one day. We found out only when she asked us how her stir-fry sag tasted, and we replied, “It was really good.” Then she revealed her secret!

Based on the taste of my mother’s sisnu stir-fry and her story about the poor people in her village where she grew up cooking sisnu ko khole for their meal, here is an approximate recipe for sisnu ko khole--substituting spinach leaves for sisnu greens since they taste very similar to me. However, use sisnu greens if you can find them.

Sisnu ko khole

(Mildly spiced stinging nettle soup)

“Khole” is a generic name for ‘beggar’s soup’ that is made of whatever is handed to down to them. Sisnu is one of the perennial plants, native to Nepal. The average sisnu plant can get above a foot tall.  The plant looks like Caribbean spinach greens, but sisnu is covered with a hair-like fuzz and stingy nettles that inject histamines and other poisonous chemicals into the skin on contact. The plant’s stingy nettles become more effective with cold water. Warning: Although sisnu’s stingy nettles and hair-like fuzz fall off and disintegrate in heat, it can burn your skin badly when coming in contact before cooking. Also, before cooking check if you’re allergic to this plant

 

Ingredients

 

454 grams fresh spinach or sisnu greens, chopped coarsely

½ cup rice or legumes of any kind

¼ cup corn or wheat flour to thicken the soup (optional)

1 medium potato, cut into cubes 

1-2 whole chilli pepper, broken into pieces if you want it spicy-hot

5-6 cups water

2 T. ghee or mustard oil 

1 tsp whole cumin or fenugreek seeds for added flavour 

¼ tsp turmeric powder for color

1 tsp salt or to your taste

 

Preparation

 

Step 1.           Clean the greens thoroughly. If you find the sisnu green, wear a pair of rubber gloves before handling it. Wash the green in hot water, discard the woody and old parts, and chop coarsely with a gloved hand. Set aside. Wash the potato, peel, and cut into pieces. Set aside.

 

Step 2.           Brown the seeds in ghee or oil in a deep saucepan. Bring the water to a boil. Add all other ingredients, except for the sisnu greens. Sprinkle the flour over the soup and give a gentle stir. Cover the pot, lower the heat, and let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes. Now, add the sisnu greens and cook for another 5-7 minutes.

 

Serve hot for supper or lunch, as the poor people in my mother’s village did, to get a feel for how their life was. Sisnu ko khole is an exotic hardy soup that should be eaten all by itself.

Remembering Childhood in Kathmandu

Roasted corn, chickpeas, peanuts, and soybeans made up the major lunch meal for most Nepalese even in the Kathmandu-valley until a few decades ago. Back then, almost all households in Kathmandu had a small patch of land around their house where they grew enough of their own vegetables and grains to last a full year. Not many people could afford a refrigerator in those days, so the roasted grains made ideal snacks and lunches for most households.

 

Corn and soybeans are still part of Nepali meals for some Nepalese, but these grains are now roasted in a metal pot, unlike in the olden days when they were roasted in an earthen pot over a wood-burning stove. The wood burning stoves have also been replaced with kerosene or gas stoves in most households in Kathmandu.  

 

Outside of Kathmandu there still is a unique tradition of serving makai ra bhatmas bhuteko with a glass of buttermilk. Sometimes, a few slices of raw radish or soft radish leaves accompanied makai ra bhatmas bhuteko. While radish is a digestive root-vegetable with very few calories, soybeans are high in protein but need to be eaten with grains to get the complete nutritional value out of them. Thus, eating soybeans with corn, radish, and buttermilk was an ingenious idea that they had learned through their own experience, not from a book! 

Why the cows and goats look healthier than the humans in Nepal?

 

Other than a few urban areas, Nepal is mostly an agricultural land where villagers heavily depend on domestic animals, such as cows and oxen, for milk products and ploughing land. Goats, sheep, chicken, and ducks are also raised for meat and fertilizer. All this means that animals are an important part of the villagers’ lives. So, when corn is milled, the villagers separate the coarsely milled corn for chiyakhla and the powdery flour for dhido or for feeding animals. 

Since the powdery flour has corn germs and other fivers, this is more nutritious than the chiyakhala flour. This is one of the reasons you may find most of the animals in villages looking healthier than their keepers!

A perfect vegan soup for the winter

 

Quati ko rus (Vegan spicy soup of sprouted mixed beans)

 

 

Quati is a mix of sprouted beans, lentils, and peas of various kinds. Rus means soup in the context of Nepali cuisine. Jhol is another name for a spicy soup in Nepal, while a mildly spiced soup is called suruwa (broth).  Thus, jhol and rus are used interchangeably for a spicy soup in Nepali cultures. Quati soup signifies a special occasion, called “Janai Purnima” in Nepal. Janai Purnima is explained in detail in my book, Cultural Heritage of the Nepalese by Sasi Kala. 

 

Sprouted beans and legumes are no longer considered  as the “poor man’s meat” even in the Western world. In fact, recent research shows that the enzymes derived from sprouted beans and legumes are far superior to that of meat sources. Sprouts are also rich in vitamins and minerals. Thus, this colourful, healthy, and delicious vegan soup will be a perfect addition on your menu—especially for the winter months when we habitually look for a hearty soup. Since sprouting requires some efforts on your part, I suggest you sprouting more than you require for one meal.

 

Colourful sprouts are hard to find in many cities, but you can sprout your own at home.

To grow sprouts, gather varieties of beans, lentils, and peas. Soak them overnight in a container (any pot or bottles will do). Drain the water, rinse the beans, and shift them in another pot/container with a lid. Set the container in a warm place during the winter months (sunny window-ledge or a mildly warmed up oven) for a day. Sprouts are ready when they grow up to ¼ to ½ inch long. Sprouts longer than that height will lose some of the nutrients in them. If your sprouts aren’t ready by then, rinse the sprout again, strain, and let them grow for one more night. If you need more help in sprouting at home, please refer to A Culinary Journey to Nepal by Sasi Kala and read under the sub-section “Selective Preservatives and Probiotic Pickles”. 

 

 

Ingredients

 

2 cups mixed dry beans (makes about 5 cups sprouts)

1 medium potato (about a cup), peeled and cubed 

4-5 T. mustard or olive oil

2-3 dry cayenne peppers (1-2 for milder soup), broken into pieces for heat if desired

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper 

2-inch fresh ginger root, crushed

3-4 medium cloves of fresh garlic, crushed

½ tsp turmeric for color 

¼ tsp powdered Szechuan pepper (optional)

½ tsp garam masala powder 

½ tsp cumin and coriander powder, each

A pinch of fenugreek and jwano seeds, each 

A small pinch of asafoetida powder or ½ tsp baking soda (optional)

7-8 cups water for soup

11/2 -2 T. salt, or to your taste

1 large plum tomato diced (optional)

A handful of freshly chopped coriander leaves (optional)

 

Preparation

 

Step 1.           Rinse the sprouts thoroughly and drain the water. Set aside. Wash all the vegetables and cut them according to the specifications. Set aside.

 

Step 2.           Heat the oil in a deep saucepan and brown the seeds first, then add the chilli pieces, turmeric, and asafoetida. If you’re using baking soda, hold on to it until the next step. Immediately add the sprouts and potato.  Stirring often, cook for five minutes. Add the spices now and stir again. Cook until the water dries out completely, while constantly stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan. This is a very important step to get the authentic sharp taste in your quati!

 

Step 3.           Add the water, salt, and baking soda now—if you chose this option instead of asafoetida. Stir and let the bubbles of baking soda settle before covering the pot with a tight lid. Lower the heat and let the soup simmer on low heat for 15-17 minutes in a regular pot. If you are using a pressure cooker, let is whistle for 3-5 times. If you use a pressure cooker don’t open the lid until the steam is completely out. This is very important for your safety!

 

Add the freshly chopped tomato and coriander if you’re using them once the steam is out. Stir and let the flavour develop for five minutes before serving with dinner rolls, boiled rice, or roti (pita bread). A bowl of steamy quati ko rus makes an excellent appetizer or a snack for a cold or rainy day. This soup stays good inside a refrigerator for a couple of days. It also freezes well and comes in handy to use in a hurry. 

 

Vegetarianism--is it a trend or a healthy choice?

Vegetarian foods are getting momentum these days for reasons of health or compassion to animal. Whichever the case may be, I think it is a fabulous idea to live a meat-free life!

Nobody needs to depend on meat to get the protein our body needs in this age of "plentiful". There are plenty of natural foods in most all parts of the world to substitute what we get from meat. Nobody need to sacrifice on the taste, either. We just need to be patient and find the ingredients to get the taste we love.

 

Living on meat was okay when there wasn't much growing in the 'hunter-gather' era. Eating meat is okay even now when somebody is forced to eat meat for sustaining their life.

Raising animals/birds/fish for food is barbaric and cruel way to make a living. I felt like throwing up in a conversation with one of my colleague--when she brought up a few  money-making ideas some people in back home are exploring these days.  She told me that people have starting fish-farms, sheep-raising, etc. Then she elaborated how fast the fish grow and fill the pond. The fish are one on top of the other because there is no space for them to swim/live!

Similarly she told me how the sheep-farmers making money from the sheep-wool and meat... I just couldn't tolerate her ideas of making money from such cruel ways.

Silence means approval in many cultures

I’m a business graduate. I had learned in my strategy-course that there is a great advantage in being the “First Mover”. Social system also works similarly. People are praised for their new/innovative ideas that have helped improve the society’s overall welfare. But many great people have also been punished—and even killed—for their new bold ideas, even though the society at large has benefitted from such ideas.

 

We find many example of such great ideas. Socrates and Galileo were two of the wise men whose ideas have revolutionized the world but not without paying the hefty price with their own lives. 

 

For instance, Socrates was the first man to recognize the limitation of human knowledge and believed that people do wrong deed out of their own ignorance. He introduced a new deity—people’s own inner voice or reasoning. Socrates was poisoned to death for failing to consider the gods that others were following. 

 

Galileo’s discovery of the “sun doesn’t revolve the earth, rather the earth revolves around the sun in 1610” wasn’t taken positively by the Catholic churches. The churches were teaching their followers just the opposite. They had said: “The earth is the center of the universe and the universe was created by their god”. Galileo’s discovery proved what the churches were teaching was wrong. Accepting Galilei’s discovery also meant losing their livelihood, since the churches ran from the donations their followers made. Thus, the furious churches asked Galileo to abstain from teaching or defending such heliocentric ideas publicly.

 

Punishments like the ones above have scared many people from sharing their  ingenious ideas/inventions with the public. I can’t compare my difficulties of sharing my own findings about the gods and religions. I am also having difficulties in selling my “universal cultural” ideas with the public. I find most people are like a sheep. They rather sooed (steered) by a rudder, than build/find their own path. These people have no idea what moral and morality mean. This frustrates me immensely sometimes!

 

The people I’m dealing with know so little. They’ve read so little or not at all the worldly stuff. These people know only their culture. Their God. Their traditions. Arguing with them that there are other gods and other cultures and other traditions is like arguing with an arrogant teenager.

Small mind and Bigger mind

 

People’s needs seem to move up when they expand their mind because as they start thinking about others around them, their needs move up to the higher level (charity, spirituality), and they start thinking about others (people/environment). When people care for others passionately, two things happen: Their mind’s horizon expands, and they forget to be selfish!

 

This is why Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs make sense. We always find the needs of the selfish self-centred people in the bottom of Maslow ’s hierarchy. They need to be praised, and they’re always looking for love and affection. They are emotionally insecured and they’re often running after money. 

Who were Gandhi and Mother Teresa?

Gandhi and Mother Teresa were the two revered public figures. Gandhi is known as the “Father of the nation” for India and Mother Teresa was admired as the most charitable ‘saintly’ figure of the 20^th century. But were they really so? Here are a few truths most people rather not know because these truths contradict with their own belief criteria that they’re so comfortable with.
 
People’s belief system works so naturally that they’re not even aware of it (their habitual acts). If someone ask why they’re doing so, they’ve no answer. Self-examination is rare thing among the people who are compliance with their traditions/religion.
 
Now, who was Gandhi? Gandhi was a male chauvinist, raciest, an astute politician and a manipulator. He forced many innocent fellow citizen to be faced the brutal beating or even killing spree at the hands of the British ruler, while he was securely snugged inside of the prison. Gandhi was also class-promoter who wrote white people are "the predominating race” and the black people "are troublesome, very dirty and live like animals”. (South Africa, 1903). He slept in between teenage girls to test his “will-power.” This is the man who developed the theory of Satyagraha! 
 
Similarly, Mother Teresa said: "There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ's Passion. The world gains much from their suffering."  (Christopher Hitchens on Mother Teresa). There are also many evidences of her taking bribes and money laundering—involving large sum of money!

Think big; think change

 

Some people are born to hurt others—by their words or deeds. Others are born to serve others and take very little for themselves. Some others are not capable of knowing what is right and what is wrong, and there are yet another type of people who may know what is right and /or what is wrong, but they don’t have courage to express their feelings. They don't realise:

The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.—Steve jobs

Who is the God and why there are so many?

           Based on what we know, it seems, God is who we consider is worthy of holding such title! Choosing or naming a God acceptable to everyone prove not only difficult but impossible for numerous reasons. This explains why there are so many gods and goddesses, and why the few saints/gurus/monks/rabbis/priests or whoever devoted their life on finding the truth about God left us with their vague messages. They want us to figure it out ourselves who the God was/is. Since the concepts of god and religion are tightly entwined, explaining those ideas were not easy for them, and they did not want to misguide us or take this matter so lightly.

                The problems associated with answering ‘who is the god’ are personal—they did not have to be, but they are for now. For instance, many individuals are emotionally attached with their God that they take a great offence even when someone talks objectively about their Figurehead. These people do not understand other people outside of their faith who do not share the same experience (or the feelings) as they do with their deity. For example, millions of Hindus worship the ‘elephant-head’ deity, Ganesha, with a hope that Ganesha would make them rich and prosperous—as they grew up hearing this deity’s reputation of granting those wishes. It’s natural for these people to worship Ganesha and transfer such belief to their next generation as a family tradition.  This tradition is difficult for people outside of this culture to understand. This is why when a few of my non-Hindu friends made fun of some of the Hindu gods and goddesses, I understood perfectly.

Can a prison be a home for someone?

Something we read/hear/experience sticks in our mind forever. The "Shawshank Redemption" movie is one of these memory that I can't forget even after so many years.  

The plots in this movie are great and I like most everyone playing major role in it. Beside the two main characters (Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins), there is a third character--a long-term prisoner--who returns to prison with his own will even after completing his sentence and was free to go wherever he wished. 

I had almost forgotten his reasons to return to prison until three days ago. My experience of what happened three days ago helped me understand the reason. I had never thought this way before, but now that I've read a quite a bit and thought about it a bit,  it is true that  a prison can be a safer home for someone who has spent most of his/her life inside of it.

Shankara's explanation of the Brahman.

 

Who is the Brahman?

The fool thinks, "I am the body"; the intelligent man thinks, "I am an individual soul united with the body." But the wise man, in the greatness of his knowledge and spiritual discrimination, sees the Self as the only reality and thinks, "I am Brahman." 

Source:

https://www.onelittleangel.com/wisdom/quotes/saint.asp?mc=60

 

If god exists, evil is not comprehensible

I just finished reading Simone de Beauvoir's short novel Inseparable. Knowing Simone, I expected the major characters in this novel (the inseparable girls) would be rebellious in nature and utterly courageous. However, I hadn’t imagined them to be frighteningly bold and naively dutiful -daughters (one of them) struggling to break free from the conventional Catholic traditions of their time.  One of them more dutiful than the other, obviously, tragically sacrifices her life after tormenting herself between her love and her duty to her family. Living a life of a woman was, and still is, not easy in many developing countries, but I didn’t think having ‘temptation’ even after being engaged with your partner was considered as sin in the 1950s in Europe.

The book mirrors religious hypocrisy in France during Beauvoir’s formative years. Her expression of “If god exists, evil is not comprehensible,” is totally opposite of the wildly held belief that “We’re only the instruments of God” and “Its’ prideful to want to understand everything”.

Mother can be overwhelmed with love

We've tall and very handsome son. He is an artist and we're proud of him. He is making his own living and don't want to do anything else. He is a singer, song-writer, plays several instruments and manages his own band. This can be seen as a dedicated artist--no reason to worry about him, right? 

 

Well, we're worried about him sometimes because most artists work hard, but earn very little income. He was born a day before the Mother’s Day in May. Thus, everyone used to tell me that “He is my Mother’s Day gift”. But he was more than any gift a mother could ask. He was a happy child, easy on his approach to everything. He mimicked his elder sisters and created his own games if nobody was around. He was a perfect child anyone could imagine!

 

While growing up, he did everything we wanted him to do: He was in sports, in music, was in a math competition, and a debater. He helped us in shoveling snow in the winter and mowing lawn in the summer. He was respectful, honourable and never talked back at us. Our girls used to tell me “Mom has a soft spot for him” but who wouldn’t have for such a child?

 

The matter is, we both (my husband and I) know the value of Freethinking, and we're happy that our children are using their own mind to choose the career of their choice--not the career path we wanted for them to follow. Yet, I felt a sharp pain when I read our son explaining his experiences of  being a young brown artist struggling to survive amongst his white counterparts, and at the same time feeling abandoned by his parents when he dropped off from McGill a quite a few years back. The interview was a great exposure of his talent and look, yet I felt bad knowing his not-so-happy past! 

 

True, we didn't care about our young son as much as he needed in his earlier art career, but we were hurt and felt betrayed when he quitted one of the most prestigious colleges we had sent him to. However, he was only 17 years old, and my mind couldn't agree even with all this justifications. He was too young to leave home unattended and free.

 

To be fair, I never abandoned him. I cried many nights to sleep, and I’m sure my husband felt the same. We’re both too disappointed, but I begged with my husband to visit him. Thus, when he said his parents abandoned him--not his father abandoned him, it was hurtful. 

 

My husband is a 'successful' man and so am I. We've 'achieved' much more than many of our counterparts. But we didn't walk on the paths our parents showed us. We used our own mind and created our own successes. We're freethinkers!

 

We're advocating others to use their own head--instead of following the conventional thinking--believing in gods and heaven and hell stories. 

 

Our son is doing the respectful thing: He is pursuing his interest (singer, son-writer, and band manager), while working to support him financially.  Nothing wrong here!

 

So, why are we creating this double standard? I'm asking myself this question again and again.