Kindness
290-217. Trump is yet to concede. Nitish may become CM again.
Already 53M Corona. Wave 2 might have begun. Vaccines claim 90% success and availability soon.
Economy goes into recession. Indian Economy, may be for the first time since Independence. If wave 2 is recedes soon, the turnaround is possible.
My friend James Mascarenhas (Jimmy) succumbed to simple Pneumonia when he was not even 50. Jimmy took me into the depths of participatory methods, tools and processes as relevant to Poor, Vulnerable and Marginalized in a variety of TRUE – tribal, rural, urban and emerging – contexts of the living and livelihoods.
Pneumonia is the single biggest infectious killer, taking 2.5 million lives a year, of late. Despite it being preventable and treatable. Can be caused by bacteria (mostly), virus and fungus. Vaccination is available. Exclusive breast feeding for the first six months, healthy diet, hygiene, less pollution help in its control, prevention.
Can we be kind? A little kind. A little more kind. Kindness does not seek reciprocation. Kindness, Intelligence, Attractiveness, Status and Age is what partners look in each other. Inherently we are kind. Therefore, can we be a little more kind? To all. Passionately kind to all. By paying back and paying forward. Kindness comes back.
Tibet is in reflection. In Indian mythological stories, Tibet is the heaven, when you cross over Himalayas. If it is a country, it will be the tenth largest, a buffer between India and China. It is not if. It is an autonomous region of China. Historically it has been an Independent and sovereign state. It is a hub of biodiversity and water source for South Asia. It is home to Manasarovar and Kailash. To Sindhu, Brahmaputra. Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist Spiritual Leader, sits at Dharmashala – McLeod Ganj. Tibetan Government-in-exile runs from here. Tibetans stay in the colonies across India. They are treated as Indians for all practical purposes.
Free Tibet, we need to be spending time there. When will that be?
Todd Henry’s Die Empty is urging us to get exhausted before we call it a day in this world. Millions of us die with their ideas with them. With their goodness. With their knowledge. With their goals. Not coming to light. Not benefiting others. Not benefiting the idea holder. Therefore, let us be good. Love. Share. Distribute. Let us die empty.
Gratitude. I am surprised receiving a mail from a young friend. A young professional. Recounting Immersion, Induction, Fellowship, Life after fellowship. Articulating the internalized Communitization, leading to be led. Conveying gratitude for all the values built in, and being a mentor for life.
Humbled.
This gives us hope.
We are not body, the senses, the heart, the mind. We may be the perceiving consciousness. That is us, the soul. When we move to ‘us’ fully, liberation starts happening. When we start observing the thoughts, feelings, words and deeds of our body, senses, heart and mind. If we keep pressing, we start experiencing ourselves, our consciousness. Then, we get unbounded space. Peace. Freedom.
Relationships, intense and intimate relationships take us there. Of trust, support, care. Of hope, faith, promise, love. Relationships that are focused on the present, potential and possibilities; that allow flow and concomitant changes; that co-invest in coexistence; that recharge rather than drain; that work with give and take, without compromising the soul of us; that grow co-evolve with co-spaces, complementarities and interdependence; that let us be ourselves without being uncomfortable; and that augment time, energy, effort together. Can we be kind? Can we invest in relationships? Life relationships.
It is not enough to stop green house gases. We need to take carbon in the air and put in the soil. We need to have more trees everywhere. We need layered cropping in most of the farm lands. Can we be kind and work with life, plants, animals, visible-invisible biota, microbiota? Can we be kind and work with preventing suffering, rather than coping with the suffering? Can we cleanse ourselves, deep inside, and our neighbourhoods, our world? Can we be kind and go for items of simple living for family, fraternity and the world? Can we be kind not to pollute our body, community, environs? Can we have more light everywhere? Inside, outside.
Be kind. Lovingly kind. Get going. Keep giving. Keep pouring. Keep flowing. Into Dhan. Into Dhanya. Out of hell, into heaven. With Deepaavali. We cannot be otherwise. Because we are In N. With N. For 7L.
Join us in the world of yoga of kindness, relationships, life and world of local learning useful living together – Maitriyoga for 7L.
G Muralidhar