ON FEMINISM

"I saw men exploiting women, now the women want their turn. Not seeing the person in their clothes..." Siddha. 

In college, I attended this class on Feminism in literature. The teacher, a Dr of Feminism, asked me what I think about gender. The class was mid-afternoon and it was nearing summer, I was half-awake when I fumbled for an answer. I managed to blurt out: I don't believe in gender. If there was a fail button in that class, it would be labelled with those words. She was fuming, she was close to pulling out her hair, she paced back and forth the platform like she was contemplating the end to sadness. I wanted to die in my chair. And perhaps my seatmate too, we being the only guys in what was becoming an amazona jungle kingdom scenario.    

The dr pointed out the stark differences in our bodies. You are a man. I am a WOMAN. I go to the girls toilet. You go to the boys toilet. So on and so forth. 

I never forgave myself for saying what I said. Gender is truth, i carved that statement into my psyche. In the next four years of my stay in college I trained myself to think like a feminist. I don't want to fall into another embarrassing situation like that. 

Then I encountered the statement Aham Brahmasmi. I am spirit. I am not my body. I am not my mind. The material body is just a dress. The spiritual body is the actual body. The spirit doesn't have race, nationality, titles and gender. These things are the consequence of our temporary dress: the material body. I had another turn around. 

People struggle for equality. In fact, March is also national women's month. I remembered my college professor Dr. Feminist who breathes (and breathes on people too) I AM WOMAN and the statement I gave her about gender. 

If we have the vision to see that all living entities are spirit souls. Then there is no question of inequality. We are all constitutionally the same in essence: spirit. But if we remain in the material platform then differences abound. You are a negro, you are a muslim, that is a cow, here is my dog, this is my brother, etc. 

The material body is real. And in order to have a civilization men and women should have different toilets. But the belief that i am my body. I am a man, you are a woman is based on ignorance of the absolute truth, aham brahmasmi, I am spirit.

REAL FEMINISM. 

Although it is most apparent in the temporary female form, Femininity exists in the absolute plane. It is gentleness that is not necessarily weakness. It is shyness that is graceful. It is softness that is fair. It is meekness that is tolerant. In essence, as fragmental spiritual parts of the Supreme Spirit, we are all females, regardless of what bodily dress we have now, we are dominated by a force bigger than ourselves. To accept our position as the dominated and not the dominator is accepting things as they are. Celebrate femininity with soft heartedness, mercy, compassion, kindness, selfless love.

A Rose

Everything came from nothing, randomness or chaos, has been the long standing conclusion of science regarding the origin of anything, including life in our universe. As we know it--as they know it. Everything we see in this world came from nothing. Everything just happened to happen. I've thought about it for the longest time, and when I'm in the sterile box of my room full of black and white words on squares it seems to make sense in my mind. But then I see this rose with its layers of intricate petals arranged in a pattern so organized you'd think a machine so complex beneath the ground had manufactured it, that I always return to my heart that says there's got to be someone so supremely intelligent, cool and creative who designed and made that. Come to think of it: everything or most things in this world that supposedly came from chaos or disharmony have harmony, symmetry, patterns: the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, wet and dry season, a woman's menstrual cycle, planting and harvesting, the veins on leaves, the tides, our very aging, birth and death, over and over, again and again, patterns everywhere. If chaos or randomness, had created this rose, then perhaps I can imitate randomness by tearing down this rose, plucking out all its petals, leaves, thorns, etc., put these parts in a box and shake it until all the parts, petals, stem, thorns, scent, fall in the right place and form themselves into a rose. The question then would be how long should I be shaking that box. How many years, centuries or millennia of shaking that box full of petals, leaves, etc., would it take anyone to create one decent rose that the humble earth grows effortlessly? The probability is so slim that I can confidently say it's impossible. I mean, taking randomness aside, who among us or even our brightest scientists who dared explain the universe, with everything our latest technology can offer create a rose just like that? 

On watching "Interstellar" (2014)

Jans here's what i think about your highly recommended sci fi movie.  

It's amazing how human intelligence endeavors to explain the entirety of our universe. How immense? Astronauts had to sleep for months just to reach Saturn. They had to use a wormhole just to get out of our own galaxy. It's mind blowingly big. Then there's time. Simply awesome to think about it. 

But the best explanation I heard about our universe was from my teacher on spiritual science, who said that Everything is contained in the sacred sound 'Krish-na' (or God's Name). All the spiritual and material worlds, universes, variegatedness, time, space or non-space, everything and everything that is outside of that everything, are all contained in the sound 'Krishna'.

Tonight, I look at the stars, and beyond. I recall the images i saw from the film. The little spacecraft floating in space. Somewhere is Saturn (or whatever it is called by entities there), another galaxy or a blackhole. Somewhere there are planets with life. It's almost scary, the vastness is overwhelming. It tells you point blank: you're smaller than no one. Your concerns--sex, fame, money, power--are shamefully insignificant. And it's true. 

I love the part in the movie where it was said that love can puncture the rigid laws of time and space. True love is transcendental. i may just be a speck in one dark corner of the entirety of everything but i hold on to the truth that i am loved with a love that is absolutely constant irregardless of the effects of time, space or variations in gravity.

I am happy that the film resolved it this way: at the end of science or the mind, love will be our light. Love is that connection from any point in this universe to the pivot, core or source: Krish-na. 

Cc: Jamila

I am not my mind

What's the use of having a "great mind" if all i can think of is sex, what's my next meal's gonna be, how do i best others, how do i keep remaining in this temporary condition-and worst of all-i am my mind?

i believe that what is (still)essential is not the fact that we have great minds, but that we can be able to control our minds, great or dull, from dragging us towards the darkest region of ignorance: ignorance about what life is, what our real purpose is, and above all who we really are. 

the mind is a vehicle, you, the spirit self, are the driver. your mind may run from 0 to 230 km/h in a split second and mine in an hour but what should matter is whether you and me are able to drive it and not the other way around. 

it is said also that the mind can be our best friend or our worst enemy: when you are forced by your mind to do things you know are bad for you then clearly it is an enemy, when your mind helps you in remembering things that can help you achieve the real benefits in life, happiness, peace, self realization, then it is your friend. 

Haribol! _/\_

The Blood Scam

The blood scam. It works under the premise that everything can be inherited: intelligence, holiness, heroism, kindness, etc.There's this guy who became president because his mom and dad were known heroes. If you're born in a family of doctors you're the odd one if you don't become one. A son of a brahmana, a religious leader, guru, inherits the followers of his dad. Thus exist political dynasties, professional dynasties, religious dynasties. Nowadays dynasty is almost always immediately a derogatory term. And it must be so. The hero's son turned out to be not so heroic at all; the doctor's son really wanted to be a butcher; and the pastor's son was a charlatan. The reason is simple: it is based on the false identification of the body as being the self. The self and the body are different, just as a driver and a car are. the self, not the body, possesses the qualities of holiness, heroism, kindness, as well as cruelty, lasciviousness, greed, etc. you may inherit your father's body color or shape, or even his mental capacity, but not your father's humility, or how he cares about other people. It's sad that this scam based on blood has been going on since history. It has been so long occurring that people dismiss it as an inherent trait. Ganyan na talaga tayo. But the reason i think is so simple. we are scammed not because we are idiots or lazy, but because we don't know the truth about ourselves, we don't know who we are, what we are.

The Math of Happiness

The number of people who hates a truly happy person doesn't matter, what matters is how many people he hates: zero. The number of people who loves a happy person doesn't matter, what matters is how many people he loves: every single one. 

May we all be truly happy. Haribol! _/\_

THE NAME GAME

I have always told my daughter Radha that God has many Names even before she started going to school. One can call Him Allah, Jehova, Yahweh, Krishna, El Shadai, or simply Father, Friend, or God. I especially emphasized to her that God has many Names, and not many gods. To have many gods defeats the very meaning of God. When she started taking a "religion class" in elementary, we started having a minor theological issue. Apparently her religion teacher does not agree with the idea of God having a lot of names (millions, I told her initially, but in fact the Names are enumerable, as The Supreme has countless qualities, activities, etc.), the teacher insisted that God only has a particular name, and that name is the only name of God. My wife told me to drop the issue and refrain from indoctrinating our daughter with "weird, new age stuff" at least after Radha finishes her "religion subjects". Radha got an almost perfect score in her "religion subject" exam, so her mother was relieved. I'm not, however, due to a few things. Things like religious wars or wars related to religion, that is actually rooted in in this particular disagreement: The Name of God. Some people worship God because of His compassion, and so they call Him Allah; some are attracted to His might so they call Elohim and El Shaddai; God is all-attractive so He is called Krishna. God is not many. There is no such thing as the God of the Christians and the God of the Muslims, or the Jews and the Hindus. If you call out Allah, referring to some tribal god, then that is NOT the name of God, but if one calls out Allah, meaning the all-compassionate God, then that IS God. It's funny some people can have three to five names, nicknames, etc. but God can only have one or two. I myself, an insignificant dot in the universe have the arrogance to call myself in five to six names, and the Lord can have only have one name. I still tell my daughter the many Names of God, although I have to work doubly hard to scrape away the bigotry she got from school (ironically!). It is sad to think that because God has many Names it gave way to many religions, and from those religions sects and denominations, all claiming their's is the exclusive name of the Lord. Haribol