Monthly Archives: August 2004

1-By Laksh, ET, Movies

Crimson Tide

Awsome movie!!

Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington are just brilliant in this Tony Scott’s film. While Gene Hackman plays a man who has earned his stripes in the battle, Denzel is smooth talking, Harvard educated tough soldier.

Set in a submarine, that is used to fire a nuclear missile, the movie exploits the best in acting talents of Denzel and Hackman. They battle it out, first in words, later in actions.  
The key aspect about this movie is a great and consistent characterization…once the shades are revealed, they continue till the end. For instance, the cocky demeanour of Gene Hackman is retained till the titles roll….
Spirituality

Truth=Realization=Happiness/Unhappiness=I((I(….)))=I(I(mu-I))= I(I in relation to the rest of the world)

 Please note that this realization could be as simple as knowing that fire burns..to the so called ‘one with God’ etc.

Let us leave this aside for a moment, and look at the rest of the equation.

Happiness/Unhappiness=I(I)=I(I(mu-I))= I(I in relation to the rest of the world) –Mu being the entire universe (Job, family, friends, work, stars, underground, mars, venus, love, thirst etc).

So, if you are ‘aware’ of your ‘relation’ to the universe…’aware’ of what goes on inside you in relation to the universe or ‘aware’ of the ‘perception’ that you create about yourself

As these two words–‘aware’ and ‘perception’ get finer and finer, larger and larger, higher and higher…when there is nothing else to be ‘aware’ of and the ‘perception’ melts, we can call such a state, i.e, if at all it exists, as supreme realization or the real ‘awareness’ or ‘enlightenment’.

Even if we do not believe in or aim for such a state, just being conscious of this equation, and stepping back from ‘I’ and look at I(…), the perception, produces interesting results..and sometimes even the so called miracles.

The above, is the essence of all the paths–Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Gnana Yoga or Bhakti Yoga.

Each one is a path to set yourself free from the perception…and promises you the ‘ultimate realization’ shamelessly like any ‘self-help’ book…except for the time period.

There is no ‘Be the real you in 21 days’  here. Instead, the goal is spread over ages…countless years and may be lives….but the realization is there for your taking that could be achieved in the next instant or in your 20th incarnation from the current one.

Which is the easiest of all?

I would say Karma Yoga…but, why?

Because ordinary mortals like us are tuned and trained to ‘work’ right from our childhood from “why are you idle beta, go and read” to ” we pay you the best man-hour rate’…we are tuned to like ‘activity’…

There are some who might say Bhakti yoga is easy too…but who can understand devotion as a complete surrender to God in the midst of so many activities and ‘trading’ of activities….?

So, if we agree Karma Yoga is the way to go…the first step is to set yourself to a) find and b) do something you really like….something that ‘dissolves’ the ‘I’ and ‘perception’.

Something that slowly makes you ‘feel’ more about ‘yourself’ rather than the bulge of your purse.Something that makes you even carry the cross, and do it all over again, just for the sake of doing it.

Once a and b are done, there will be no activity that will be mundane for you…no work an unpleasant chore…no object mean or menial…and once the ‘I’ is silent all the time, in any work you do, there comes a stage where you can really ‘see’…to ‘see’ that anything esle that comes out of work as incidentals–both carrots and sticks. (The ‘real’ thing that comes out of work will always remain with you and no one can see it…rest, only helps in show-off, a shade of luster, of all the gold you had accumulated inside you.)

And, the perception finally melts… to quote Jiddu Krishnamurthi ‘…You will find truth…that is, if it exists.’