Is there really a Karma system ?

Again its been days since i have posted a blog, I have been reading J Krishnamurthi's books and am totally enjoying it. I will write a detailed blog about him.

But for now this question - Is there really a karma system ? If it is there why is it there and is it really fair ? Is it really the way that we see it today? Just a two days before I and Arjuna were talking about Karma - wherein he said that whatever bad happens it happens because of past karmas. I vehemently opposed him and it was completely out of the blue - whatever i said was just a flow of what my heart really believed - I have always believed that if you are doing something good do it, because you want to do that good - not because u will get some punyas [many do for that reason] and if you don't do something bad, don't do it because you believe it is bad and not because you will earn bad karmas [again many don't do it because they are scared, though that fear has constantly reduced over the ages]

I feel that many just use the term "Karma" just to escape reality - just to escape from accepting the truth - what justice would be there - when a child is killed immediately after birth just because it was a girl - what was her karma ? One can say that it was her past karma - then what is the use of just being born and dying immediately - What about kids that are molested by their parents - what was their fault - and these kids grow more screwed up in their heads - in short leading to more bad karmas - Like this I can list out various scenarios that my mind throws up wherein i have no answers towards it.

Thousands are dying around us - Tsunami's, Earthquakes, Forest Fires, Hurricanes - Everytime we look up and question GOD. Should we ? Is that right ?

I told Arjuna that I believe that God is only interested in our spirtual life, not in our materialistic life, I don't believe that he is interested in whether we pass our examination or get a good job or earn money. I don't believe that there is an accountant sitting up there and keeping a count of how much good or bad we are doing. I believe that if we are spirtually stronger than automatically we become morally strong, automatically we don't do wrong, automatically we care about our environment, our surrounding. And we start understanding what happens, just happens, there is no rhyme or reason behind it. We need to just take it in our stride and prepare better for the next time. We are responsible for everything materialistic that happens around us and no one else - For some reason this logic makes sense to me more than anything else. God is there spirtually helping us to discover our inner self and make us better individuals - but thats it.

Everyone kindly give your inputs on it - As my friend venky has said - start a controversy and you will learn more And I know this is a controversial topic and a topic that will benefit all of us. Please think before you answer.

Mughal-E-Azam

Yesterday all of a sudden out of the blue, I decided to listen to Mughal-E-Azam - The music and lyrics of each of the 12 songs are mind blowing - For every avid music listener, spend some time today and listen to all of them - the pathos, the romance in each and every song - just has to be savored.

The lyrics of the best song in the album - Arjuna learn something from it - On popular demand
the translation of the song. As you all know it is just a mere attempt on translating this song, i won't be able to translate the lyrical beauty, the pathos, and situation of the song - try to watch the movie and enjoy the music

Insaan kisee se duniyaan me, ek baar mohabbat karataa hai
Is dard ko lekar jiitaa hai Is dard ko lekar marataa hai
Pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa Jab pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa
Pyaar kiyaa koi chori nahin ki
Pyaar kiyaa Pyaar kiyaa koi chori nahin ki
Chhuup chhuup aahe bharnaa kyaa

A person only loves once in this world
he lives with this pain, he dies with this pain
You have loved, then why are you afraid, When you have loved, then why are you afraid
You have loved, you haven't stolen anything
You have loved, You have loved, you haven't stolen anything
Then why hide and sigh

Jab pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa
Pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa
Jab pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa

When you have loved, then why are you afraid
you have loved, then why are you afraid
When you have loved, then why are you afraid

Aaj kahenge dil kaa fasaanaa
Jaan bhee le le chaahe zamaanaa
Aaj kahenge dil kaa fasaanaa
Jaan bhee le le chaahe zamaanaa
Maut wahii jo duniyaan dekhe
Maut wahii jo duniyaan dekhe
Ghunt ghunt kar yu marnaa kyaa

Today I will tell my heart's ode to love
Even if the world takes my life away
Today I will tell my heart's ode to love
Even if the world takes my life away
Death is the one, that the world will see
Death is the one, that the world will see
Why die by suffocating yourself in shame and fear

Jab pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa
Pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa
Jab pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa

When you have loved, then why are you afraid
you have loved, then why are you afraid
When you have loved, then why are you afraid

Unki tamannaa dil mein rahegii
Shammaa ise mahafil mein rahegii
Unki tamannaa dil mein rahegi
Shammaa ise mahafil mein rahegi
Ishq mein jiinaa ishq mein marnaa
Ishq mein jiinaa ishq mein marnaa
Aaur humei ab karnaa kyaa

His love's desire will be forever in my heart
That lamp's glow will always burn brightly in this gathering
His love's desire will be forever in my heart
That lamp's glow will always burn brightly in this gathering
I will live in his love, I will die in his love
I will live in his love, I will die in his love
What else is there for me to do now

Jab pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa
Pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa
Jab pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa

When you have loved, then why are you afraid
you have loved, then why are you afraid
When you have loved, then why are you afraid

Chhuup naa sakegaa ishq hamaaraa
Chaaro taraf hain unkaa nazaaraa
Chhuup naa sakegaa ishq hamaaraa
Chaaro taraf hain unkaa nazaaraa
Pardaa nahin jab koi khudaa se
Pardaa nahin jab koi khudaa se
Bando se pardaa karnaa kyaa

My love cannot be hidden
In all 4 direction, he can be seen
My love cannot be hidden
In all 4 direction, he can be seen
When there is no veil in front of the God
When there is no veil in front of the God
then why should there be one in front of his followers

Jab pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa
Pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa
Jab pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa
Pyaar kiyaa koi chori nahin ki
Chhuup chhuup aahe bharnaa kyaa
Jab pyaar kiyaa to darnaa kyaa

When you have loved, then why are you afraid
you have loved, then why are you afraid
When you have loved, then why are you afraid
You have loved, you haven't stolen anything
Then why hide and sigh
When you have loved, then why are you afraid

Where am I ?

Its been days since i posted a blog and it has been more since i posted just a general blog. Have been going through a rough patch - very disillusioned with everything around me. It has been six years since i came to US, seems like a life time now - feels as if i have been away from where i was born and raised for a long time now. Feel very alone, feel very lost. Not that i don't have friends - i have my best friend with me - my sister, my nephew and Arjuna who is like a kid brother to me - Thanks to all of them life seems to go on. But still.... I don't know how to explain what i feel or as if i don't feel anything any more. Just some ramblings of my mind - wish i could get out of it - knowing me i will - just felt like writing it to the small group of blog friends.

Some more Zen
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The Water is not impeded by the rock
but flows effortlessly round it,
wearing it away with time

The falling rock is not deflected from its path,
but parts the water leaving it to continue
on its own journey

Look at the point of view between the water and rock - both are shown in a positive light.

The illusion of choice,
leaves only disappointment.
The joy of acceptance,
offers understanding.

Love this one

When u see a man drowning,
you do not wait until he calls for help
before u rescue him.
Though it is advisable to ensure
that he is not merely waving to a friend

Zen and Silence - II

Zen – Fundamentals – 2
---------------------------------
Before we begin - Zen is japanese for Chinese word ch'an, which is in turn a transliteration of the sanskrit word dhyana, all of them meaning "meditation".

Continuing from our first part. After understanding most of the fundamentals – this profound sutra: “Like the empty sky, it has no boundaries, yet it is right in this place, ever profound and clear. Now replace the “it” with “God” and you will immediately understand the significance of the statement. If you start searching for the sky, u will never find it. If you become serious, u will never find it. Where will u find the sky? The sky is not somewhere it is everywhere and that which is everywhere cannot be searched for. God is like the sky, like the empty sky. It has no boundaries so it cannot be defined. You cannot say where it begins and where it ends, it is eternal, it is infinite and yet it is right in front of you. If you relax, it is there, if u become tense it disappears.
People go on asking where God is, and he is just in front of you. He surrounds you. He is in and he is out because only he is. Zen calls God - it, because they don’t want us to be trapped in the word God. “When you seek to know it, you cannot see it”. Because when u try to search, you become concentrated, you become tense, you get lost in your search, you become narrow, so even when god is in front of you, you just don’t see him.
People say meditation is concentration; Zen says that it is not. In the contrary according to Zen, it is diametrically opposite. If you are looking for an ant, concentration is important, but if you are looking for God, who is so vast and who surround you, u don’t need that concentration. For God you have to be utterly open, un-concentrated, open from every side, not searching, not looking. An unfocused consciousness is what meditation is.
A Sufi mystic was staying with Rabiya. His name was Hassan, and maybe after hearing Jesus Christ’s statement: “Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you will find it”. So every day in all his 5 prayers, he would say to God “ I am knocking Sir, and I am knocking so much, why have you still not opened the door “. One day Rabiya heard it and said “Hassan when will you look? The door is open. You go on talking nonsense – “I am knocking, I am knocking --- and the door is open all the time. Look! But u are too concerned with your knocking and asking and desiring and seeking and you cannot see. The door is open”
Rabiya’s statement is pure Zen. God has always been available. God is unconditionally available. “ When u seek to know it, you cannot see it. You cannot take hold of it, you cannot lose it” If you want to possess God, you will not be able to. All that is great cannot be possessed – and that is one of the most foolish thing we try to do. We want to possess everything.
So beautiful, Yes you cannot possess it, but there is no way to lose it either. It is there. It is always there. If you are silent you will start feeling it, You have to fall in tune with it. You have to become silent so that you can listen to it. You have to become silent so the dance of God can penetrate you, so God can vibrate in you, so God can pulsate in you. You have to drop your rush, your hurry, your ideas to go somewhere, to reach, to become, to be this and that. You have to stop becoming. And it is there; you cannot lose it.
The moment you understand that you cannot possess it, and you drop your possessiveness, it is there and you have got it. The moment you realize that love [Love is God] cannot be possessed, a great understanding has arisen in you and now you will have it and will have it forever. You cannot exhaust it.
This is the Zen Paradox – Zen is the path of paradox. “When you are silent, it speaks; When you speak, it is silent. The great gate is wide open to bestow alms, and no crowd is blocking the way.” There is no competition, there is nobody blocking your way. You need not hurry, you need not make any effort to grab. In front of you – there is only God, only God. So just relax. That’s what Zen says – Satori – Utter relaxation of your being; a state of consciousness where there is no becoming left, when you are not an achiever anymore, when there is no goal, when all goals have disappeared and all purposes have been left behind; when you are, simply are – in that moment of “isness” you dissolve into totality and a new “tick” arises that has never been there. That tick is satori, Samadhi, enlightenment.
The last thing, which everyone must have noticed: Zen is non-serious. Zen has a tremendous sense of humor. Zen has laughter in it, Zen is festive. Zen’s spirit is that of celebration. Laughter is the key to Zen, as it makes you dance, it makes you enjoy.
That’s why if you notice most Zen stories give you the message and at the same time brings in a smile on your face.

From the book: Zen The path of Paradox

The Human Route

The Human Route

Coming empty handed, going empty handed, that is human
When you are born, where do you come from?
When you die, Where do you go?
Life is like a floating cloud, which appears.
Death is like a floating cloud, which disappears.
The floating cloud itself originally does not exist.
Life and death, coming and going, are also like that.
But there is one thing that always remains clear.
It is pure and clear,
Not depending on life and death.

Then what is the one and clear thing?

---- Traditional Chinese Poem