Right To Insight

“Information gains its identity, and importance, in the wake of ignorance.” And it appears I too have been a-wake-ned from an ignorance of sorts…

The noted Times Of India columnist, Mr. Jug Suraiya has shared his views on the RTI Act—the Right to Information act, through his “The no of things”, in The Times of India (SECOND OPINION) dated, October 19, 2011. As I read, it evoked a remembrance of a view (a bit different though) that had “visited” me on the same issue, many months ago. But I had failed to accord it its due recognition, by failing to share it. The article also helped to overpower my inertia of “shall see to it later”. After all, the issue stands for our “rights”…and hence has the “right” to find its way out from the confines of my mind! This perforce, almost, emanation is what I referred to as my own waking up from a slumber of ignorance…as not sharing is a manifestation of ignorance, as per my perceptions.

RTI, as an allied Right, gives us the Right To Ignorance too…as information ceases to be, when ignorance dissolves…as it becomes knowledge.

Well information is sought whenever there is ignorance. As also when one wishes to add on to what one knows…because accrued information forms the basis of our knowledge and the ledger of know-ledge has infinite pages…

But when we talk of ignorance we are urged to take a look as to the “nature” of ignorance. Whether the ignorance is imposed by withholding the information that would dispel it or it is the desire to stay with the ignorance or is it ignorance of the existence of ignorance…it could be the result any thing or of many things, other than those mentioned here.

Having discerned that one is afflicted with ignorance, when one decides to shed ignorance and embrace awareness by seeking information, he gets it. But what one decides to do with the accumulated information, the knowledge…manifests whether one has been successful in getting rid of ignorance in totality or otherwise. Because ignorance is not only lack of information or knowledge but also the lack of awareness that knowledge unused is wasted knowledge…while when applied, transcends to wisdom.

“Knowledge used for the betterment of self and all is wisdom…and only then serves its purpose.”

Thus as with everything in life it depends on us how we interpret the RTI…whether as the right to be with ignorance, or as the right to propagate ignorance or the tool to come out of it in totality by accessing and applying the information for self as well as for all—by sharing the same.

And the Right To Information I refer to, also goes beyond the paper works (legalities) and leads to the inner work—The Right to know ourselves…and access our truth. This Right is given to Us by Us and for Us…through our Creation by The Creator. So what we would do? Ignore ourselves and defy nature or Seek our Truth…by Utilizing the Self-given Right to Information in the Right Manner?

Hence hereby we all are wished the Right Information of Selves…subsequent to utilizing the Right to Insight (applied by “looking in-side”) and assessing and accessing the Right Mode for that. The Right Mode cannot be generalized as it differs for all individuals…as we are all “different”, “unique”, “differently unique” and “uniquely different”.

Sushmita Mukherjee,

October 19, 2011.

Angry at whom and what and why?

                 "Anger is capable of causing only one thing...and having accomplished that it renders one incapable of doing anything else...as anger causes Destruction...and nothing else."  

Rejection?

"When you are suffering from 'expectation' you experience 'rejection'...in all walks of life."



Sushmita Mukherjee,
12th October, 2011

Neutrality

"Neutrality, a declaration of being non-judgmental, by choice, gets judged as indifference...and the person embodying neutrality, in spite of being neutral gets adjudged as anything but neutral!"


Why? Because perceptions are products perspective...a tool of relativity to express its all permeability.


Sushmita Mukherjee,
30th September,2011.

Gone with the quake...regions...

All it takes is an earthquake—to shake huge portion of the nation…Sikkim, Bihar, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Tibet…which too once was a part of our nation—to obviate, from what we deviate—the obvious. Either purposely, or ignorantly, or by being ignorant, purposely. The origin of the turbulence—the epicenter—is a small zone, compared to ‘the’ entirety, yet was enough to prove that the zonal to regional concepts are of the mind. That small zone, in shaking the portions that it did, proved by doing so, that at the root rests the all-pervasive Oneness. For the Universal Consciousness, All IS One.

When ‘outsiders’ divided the nation, it was called ‘partition’; but when the ‘insiders’ divided it, it got labeled ‘demarcation’…as was done for better governance through the localization of administration…and combat the difficulties of ‘vastness’..

But propositions realize their full potential only when accompanied by the sincerity of purpose and intention. As it manifests, these physical demarcations actually originate from the demarcation, aided by the ‘separatist’ thought process. This is infested and infected with regional aptitude…which materializes as regional attitude…and vitiates the intention. And the cause can never be separate from the effect it brings… “As nothing is separate from anything on this earth, in what we call LIFE”.

Now again the earth quakes and shakes and takes into its ambit—an unprecedented range or should we say ‘region’—to obviate…as a reiteration—leaving innumerable affected in its wake—the demarcation is in our mind—wider than the physical cracks it has created—proving that wherever we go, earth in its entirety is a huge common base on which we stand. If a portion is affected, the other ones are too, irrespective of the physical distances that separate them…united that they are at the base, when one shakes, the other shakes too. Same is with us…and unless we stand united, we are liable to fall.

Let this be ingrained indelibly in all the regions of our mind, which too is One…in connection with the All…The Collective…that we call The Universe.

Sushmita Mukherjee,

20^th September 2011

Why Spend?

"SPEND THAT WHICH IS TO BE SPENT...not LIFE..."

--Sushmita Mukherjee

Teachers' Day

I simply cannot conjure myself as writing, or bring myself to write, on Teacher’s Day…as it has to be, and would always be, Teachers’ Day. Not that my Teachers would pull me up for not doing so. No teacher would…for that matter. But it is my own self that wouldn’t allow me not to acknowledge the intense and constant presence of all.

True I shall not be naming them. Why? Because a name would be confining, in the context of their indispensable impact on me…and my life. Not only that, there being so many of them…and many more to follow…failing to mention even one of them, however unintentional, would be a betrayal of their influence.

Though repeatedly we commit this mistake…by not recognizing our teachers as our teachers. Because, the problem with us is our affinity for preconceived notions…in fact it is not affinity, but dependence on them. Even when we are looking for answers and the answers stare at our face, we are not able to recognize them, as we expect the answer to have a specific form. Isn’t it paradoxical? We don’t know something, yet we harbor an image of what it should be! Well, we and our mental constructs…

Thus it is no wonder we fail to recognize the various teachers, life gifts us with…

Who is a teacher?

The one who provides answers to our academic questions…helps us to improve our grades in the examination in school and college?

That’s all?

No. A teacher does more than that…is much more …and the ‘much’ and ‘more’ cannot be quantified.

The first teacher that we are blessed with is our parents…yet we consider them only as our parents…and not teacher. And for it we are not to be blamed. What is to be blamed is our ignorance as regards whom to call our teacher…instead of concentrating on how a teacher should ‘look’! The fixation with ‘forms’ has to give way to the openness to accept as teacher, whosoever and whatsoever enlightens us. Teachers transcend the academia…to become an entity who aids in our ‘growth’ instead of merely reinforcing our bank-of-information…contained in the books of our text.

A teacher in providing answers, helps us to know what we don’t know…makes us aware of our unawareness. The teacher urges us to seek more questions…and ultimately sets us on the path-of-searching for our own answers…and in doing so helps us recognize and appreciate many more teachers…in many forms, in any form—in the animate—and in the formless… the inanimate. And this goes beyond the curriculum, because for a teacher the only curriculum is the ‘overall growth’ of the students so as to educate them, and not merely help them in becoming qualified in specific discipline(s)…for jobs. Make no mistake life is the Ultimate Job…

My life has been blessed with such teachers…none lesser than the other in significance…and each appearing at the right time…as is the forte of life. It is always on time, which again we fail to realize. They have all followed a chronological order in their appearance in my life…the preceding one preparing me for the lessons of the teacher to follow next. And once they have appeared, their presence has become a constant presence, even after the absence of their appearance.

We know not which teacher life would send our way. Apart from the teacher in a physical form…it could be a movie…a specific dialogue or scene, all of a sudden solving a mystery of life for us with a mental click…or it could be an article that contains a specific line that does the trick…or a song…and in my case, books and articles. Each one of them has been unique, and indispensable, and simply indescribable in entirety of their effect. Well words would be too confining even for a writer…

Hence the term inanimate, for books doesn’t go down well with me. And for that matter how could anything that infuses us with a feeling of revitalization…energizes us…inspire us and make us capable of receiving the inspirations…in one word, helps us be-come truly alive…with heightened awareness…makes us more animate, be themselves inanimate? Well, again it is my teachers…physical and non-physical…who convince me that perceptions would naturally vary…and couldn’t be absolute. And experience is one of the biggest teachers…let us not forget that too.

And if in one sentence I had to state who a teacher is…my answer would be... “A teacher is the one who gives you back to you…leads you to you…sets you on the path to search for your own self…” There could be no knowledge more profound than this…because unless we know who we are, we cannot know the truth of anything else…and when we claim to do so, we simply affirm our illusion.

An external teacher leads us to the internal teacher…our true self…and helps us thus to ‘feel’ the connection with the Teacher Ultimate…to ultimately render us our own teacher.

Each moment is lived through, and with the aid of, the teachings of my teachers…external and internal…and though time and again I find myself to falter…I find my teachers by my side. They make each moment a teaching and learning moment. Life would not have been the same without them. I hereby acknowledge, not only on this day, but each moment, their guiding presence in and my life and thank all my teachers for gracing my life…and thank in advance many more teachers who would surely follow…

It shall always be for me Teachers’ Day…