The Silent Raga

This is named so because I wrote it while watching Mani Ratnam's 1986 hit, Mouna Ragam starring Revathy Menon.

She had just entered

Her work done for the day

When she noticed that the house

Was done up in a special way

Before she could ask

Her mother swooped in

Talcum box in her hand

And yanked her into the kitchen

Her sister entered then

A beutiful saree in hand

Draping, dabbing, this and that

She thought she looked grand

"What Amma? What is this?"

She asked for an answer she feared

Cringing wouldn't make it go

The age of 24 had neared.

She peeked outside, just a peek

To see who were sitting

Did just the parents and the boy come

Or the whole family they saw fitting?

A demurely man about her age

Was sitting quietly in the side chair

So thin, so tall, so elegant

Well dressed too, and ever so fair.

"Enough looking", said Amma

So out she went with fear

Will I like him? Will he like me? 

Is this my husband-to-be sitting here?

She set sweetmeats on a table

Her wondering eyes set firmly on the ground

For that's what Amma had told her

"Eyes down, and not a sound."

But curious as she was, she looked

And their eyes met for the first ever time

And both caught themselves thinking

Oh! If only those eyes were forever in mine!

Inner peace

Our elders advise it for peace. I advise it for sanity. I know I'm not authority on meditation, I'm just eager to share a little of what I know and experienced of this one sure-shot way to recharging your mind. 

We've all seen pictures of, and heard stories about Buddha. In all the pictures, he's perennially squatted, deep in meditation. I'm not sure how he was able to muster concentration enough to sit there like that, for hours and days on end. I once heard this fable about him. His disciples and he were sitting in this forest, meditating, when a snake came visiting. It slithered all around them, hissing to announce its arrival. Terrified by its hiss, the disciples peeked to see their worst fear in front of them, and scrambled away immediately. One of them even called out to the Teacher, but he did not seem to hear. The snake eventually found his way back into a hole in the ground, and slithered away. Upon Buddha's coming to, the disciples realised he never knew of the snake.

Now concentration to THAT level seems impossible by us at this stage. But we can start out with 3-5 minutes of squatting on the floor, with a mat below us. The extremely time-conscious ones can even set an alarm on their cellphones. I had done that my first time meditating. But that's the funny thing about meditation. After all the hustle-bustly running around of the day, I find it extremely difficult to calm my mind down, and evacuate it of the constant stream of thoughts, good and bad. I find it hard to close my eyes for 2 seconds! After the initial glitches I settle into a rhythm. Breathe in, breathe out. Slooowly. And then comes the hard part. You just don't want to get back to your routine. You don't ever want to get out of that trance-like peace that seems to descend on you. Trust me, the feeling is priceless, a calm like none other.