Marking 70th Independence Day in Cubbon Park

Gentle breeze, swaying trees. Vast stretches of greenery, as far as one’s eye can see. Canine companions and feathered friends, frolicking about under the shining sun.

No, don’t worry, I have not suddenly morphed into a (bad) poet unleashing a barrage of rhyming words and alliteration upon the unsuspecting reader. It is just that I am back after a refreshing visit to Cubbon Park (CP), one of our most sought-after weekend mini-picnic locations. For those of you who don’t know, CP is an island of tranquility in the Central Business District, amidst the bustling, cacophonous city that Bangalore has become.

At least  1-2 times a month, our Sunday ritual typically includes rising early to reach the park by 7.30 AM followed by a walk/jog/cycling for forty minutes or so across its vast expanse, followed by a round of healthy juices and concoctions (made up of one of more of these – gooseberry, jamun, lemon, carrot, ginger, beetroot, அருகம்புல் – you name it and it is available)  sold by a friendly old man right outside the park and finally, winding up with a hearty breakfast at  our regular eatery on the way back home.

One reason that we keep our weekend date with CP without fail is that a good sixty minutes in the lap of nature is a rejuvenating experience is like no other. Whether you choose to amble along holding the hands of a loved one or simply take a brisk walk all by yourself, the pristine beauty of nature impacts you deeply. The greenery has been fortunately preserved well and now it is also interspersed with interesting, man-made art work and structures – including various totem poles and carvings on wood.

The dense foliage never fails to mesmerize me every time. The canopy of leaves and branches, like in the picture above, remind me of a knotted bunch of nerves, and sometimes are so thick, that sun rays struggle to penetrate.  Dotting the park are islands of rose gardens, grass carpeted mini-parks and tree lined cul-de-sacs  where you can choose to sit quietly with the family and savor the nippy mornings, or play a sweaty game of tennikoit.

On Sundays, vehicles are not allowed inside the park and that means swarms of people like us who turn up in the park early in the morning for running, exercising, walking their dogs, cycling, doing Yoga in various contorted positions or simply uproariously laughing as part of their laughter club activities, can continue their quality time with nature and each other undisturbed. One side of the park is reserved for Sunday festivities. So you would chance upon a band playing, Bharatanatyam performance, an exhibition for organic produce or a Carnatic recital, depending on what the day’s agenda is.

Today being Independence Day, was extra special. There was festive fervor all around. Fluttering tricolors, merry kids playing with green-white-saffron ribbons, and cyclists and athletes in “I love India” T-shirts. There was also a line up of vintage cars strapped with tricolored ribbons and balloons. We also spotted a few media vans, with reporters milling around trying to get patriotic sound bytes from visiting families and park employees, who were of course more than happy to comply.

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Turns out our favorite eatery was not exempt from the Independence fever either. There were special menus and waiters dressed in tricolor T-shirts buzzing across the place, serving the unusually large crowd of guests with smiles and cheer. What’s more, kids got gifts packets of savories, sweets and chocolates with warm wishes of ‘Happy Independence Day’. There were selfies galore, and joy and warmth reverberated all around.

The specials on the menu were ‘Independence Day’ Idlis and Dosas. Wow, it was certainly a sight to behold.

Soaking in the spirit of ID, I did my bit too – and added an impromptu Independent Day salad below for lunch. After all, fever tends to be  highly contagious, right?

 

‘Work, Enjoyment and Progress’ by R. L. Kashyap: PART 1

Work, its nature, one’s attitude to work – are all subjects that immensely interest me. I had blogged about these in the past here and here. At the risk of sounding cliched, let me reproduce here that much bandied about phrase by Paulo Coelho ‘When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.‘ (The author R. L. Kashyap refers to it too in the book) So in that sense, I think stumbling on this book was universe’s way of giving me yet another helping hand in my quest for answers.

At the outset, I will clarify that this is not a review. A gem of a book like this is not meant to be reviewed. The book is a handy guide on the attitude to adopt while performing one’s work and needs to be treated as such. It comes in the form of (very pertinent, practical) seventy-odd Q&A that the the author addresses. I am going to jot down – in three parts – the key points, for ready reference, as I derive them from the Q&A. I also want to make it clear that the points are not quoted verbatim from the book. They are merely my interpretation/understanding of the author’s words and could be subject to change.

About the author: R. L. Kashyap is a renowned Indian academic (who boasts of Purdue, IISc, and Harvard among his Alma mater) and is also an established Vedic scholar.

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PART 1: AIM OF LIFE AND WORK

1. Every human being is unique, and has creative energies that are latent and unmanifested. Svadharma is that unique path where these creative energies can blossom to the fullest. This does not happen overnight but takes time. Even in the path of Svadharma, grief and failures are inevitable. Work is not meant for mere enjoyment. Rather joy is a by-product in Svadharma.
2. Svadharma is drawn from the Sanskrit word स्वधा, which denotes the law that supports its power from within. E.g. a seed contains unmanifested life form which blossoms forth when nourished with the right conditions (soil, humidity etc.) This word occurs in more than a thousand Veda mantras.
3. Svadharma NOT necessarily equal to duties. Educating children is a duty. Svadharma on the other hand is a pursuit. The thoughts that persist for a long time in my mind give a hint as to what my Svadharma could be. The cosmos/Supreme Spirit places me in that path and even provides help from completely unexpected quarters to help in the journey (cue: the Paulo Coelho quote)
4. Cosmos (living beings + inanimate beings) = single web of Truth with the Brahman as the core and multiple nodes. Every node is a living/non-living being and has inherent Divinity (I remember Avatar and how heavily the film draws its philosophy from this theory) The three realms – अन्न, प्राण, मनो (gross, vital and mental respectively) – draw their energies from different sources in the Cosmos. This needs to be studied in detail.
5. In every activity performed, I need to recognize that 98% contribution is from cosmic powers and 2% from me, the doer. Even a simple process of eating and digesting food involves mostly sub-tasks beyond my control (raw materials production, the process of cooking, and the process of digestion – all as ordained by nature).
6. The first step in any work is to become conscious. Consciousness is not a passive state. Every action deserves to be done completely consciously. By doing so, we automatically experience the joy in work. Enjoyment is never the aim in any work.
7. The three realms (mentioned in point#3) need to be perfected individually and need to exist in perfect harmony too.
8. How to be conscious and do the best work – shed selfishness, strive to overcome your limitations and work for the larger society. Connect to the Divine within.
9. I have command over my actions, but never over their results कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन (Sr. Bhagavad Gita 2.47)
10. Performance of any task consciously acknowledging the role of cosmic powers yields delight (called सोम in the Vedas) Joy derived by the worker is directly proportional to the levels of perfection (read quality) in work
11. Two modes of doing work – A) Normal (some amount of attention, no understanding of the Divine source, done as a duty or for remuneration) & B) Yoga mode (complete consciousness, connection with the Divine from which energies flow and done as an offer to the Divine)
12. Even listening to music while working (or even walking) takes away the focus and lessens the effect
13. Three aspects of any work – A) Thought and formation B) Will and work C) Love and harmonizing. These three aspects have to be strong and harmonized to produce quality work. Possible impediments are – confusion in knowledge, weakness in will and lack of love.
14. Being in touch with the Divine – the more we are, the more we can invoke the power to resolve problems. Become more and more conscious by increasing your awareness of the Divine
15. Ego and individuality: Initially ego is needed. It is the helper but then it becomes the bar. When we uncover the Divinity in us step-by-step, ego disappears
16. If my current work does not match my Svadharma, it is ok. Keep at it and it could only be a temporary state. But, nevertheless, any work needs to be done as follows: A) Consciously and with awareness B) Enthusiastically C)With no obsession about the results but with focus all the same D) when in trouble, quieten the mind and seek Divine help
17. Temptation, distractions and wrong kind of attachment to work – all allude to a weak will power. Be aware and overcome it.
18. Five factors influencing work – A) Overall clarity and circumstances B) Capacity of the doer C) Instruments and natural laws D) Efforts applied E) Divine help
    

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Assent to thy high self, create, endure.

Cease not from knowledge, let thy toil be vast.

No more can earthly limits pen thy force;

Equal thy work with long unending Time’s. (Book III, Canto IV)

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(to be continued…)

Thoughts on “Surely You’re Joking Mr.Feynman”

Move over, Sheldon Cooper!

There is a new contender to the title of my favorite genius (also a theoretical physicist, to boot). And it is none other than Prof. Feynman whose stories I have incidentally stumbled upon only now, a good twenty seven years after his death. “Surely  you’re joking Mr.Feynman!“ is a collection of interesting anecdotes from his life, narrated by the man himself in his inimitable style. Fun, peppy, with a dash of irreverence and political incorrectness, it is a complete reflection of the maverick professor and a total joy to read.

The early pages give us a glimpse of the genius the world would witness, when as a eleven year old, Feynman built scientific devices in his “home lab” in the outskirts of New York. As he then goes on to study and work in various prestigious universities in the US including MIT, Princeton, Cornell and Caltech, awing everyone along the way, the book regales us with stories reflecting the various aspects of his character. So soon we see a teenage Feynman working out new ways to slice vegetables in his aunt’s kitchen and then later, as a mischievous student in MIT who doesn’t hesitate in stealing the door of the dorm, sending the students and staff into a frenzied hunt. Such was the joie de vivre he was imbued with, that he took on bullies, played bongo, learned new languages, visited countries and even solved some of nature’s most complicated puzzles nonchalantly.

One of the saddest episodes in Feynman’s life was the period between 1939 and 1946 when his young wife fell sick and eventually succumbed to TB, while he was unable to be at her side, locked instead in a secret facility contributing to building of the bomb that the US would later unleash on Japan. But true to character, the book does not dwell on these depressing aspects for long and Feyman instead chooses to focus on the interesting things he got to do at Las Alamos during this trying phase, from picking locks and cracking safes to exchanging coded letters with his ailing wife.

Throughout his life, Feynman lived by his mantra of loving life (and science) to the fullest, with absolutely no inhibitions whatsoever. And if that meant visiting shady clubs or supporting strip bars, he was open about doing that too. His natural dislike for authority, formality, honors or pretentiousness of any kind is also evident – when rubbing shoulders with royalty or dealing with the high and mighty in power. His reaction on being conveyed the news of winning the Nobel Prize is priceless and needs to be read to be believed.

His website introduces Richard P. Feynman as a “physicist, Nobel Laureate, professor, musician, raconteur, and an all-around curious character.” They probably ran out of space trying to accommodate multiple other descriptions like – artist, flirt, genius, linguist, mischief-monger and so on. I’ve always found it skewed and unfair in life that heaps of talent gets disproportionately located in one place while in some places it goes completely missing. But Feynman’s story points out an important lesson – that only part of your success is about what you are endowed with, while most of it is actually about what you do with your talents, time and energy, or in other words – your attitude to life and the opportunities it offers you. Feynman was a genius in science but that did not stop him from humbly accepting that he was a novice in the field of arts and music before surrendering himself to his friends and other artists completely, as a devoted student. His persistence, hard work and dogged determination reflect in the way he pursued these not as mere hobbies but something that he needed to understand fully well and excel at. The results spoke for themselves as some of his later art work or drumming sessions would show.

There is so much that I can go on with till the cows come home, but I will wind up my eulogy with a link to a documentary where much of what is in the book comes alive, straight from the horse’s mouth. Set aside some time, and listen to the man speak. You will be inspired for life.

In summary,

There is probably no one who can match up to Feynman in blending substance with flair, but that does not stop us from trying to live honest, rich and meaningful lives, the way he did. A heartwarming and inspiring tale of one of the greatest minds of our times.