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Jun 29, 2013

WHISPERS: Burning Bridges....

 Burning Bridges
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Sitting alone
Burning my bridges
Piece by rending piece
Even before my heart could smell
The acrid smoke of breaking
The bridge is down
Flowing under the bridge

Heart tries hard to keep
The fire from going on hurting,
Flame by flame
Her face, turned away
In the flicker of the burning lights
Refuses the bits food that he feeds
His dying love, and dies at last.

Made of blood, as foolish as it sounds;
Memories drip, from bleeding heart
And love cast her name, again and again
On the sands of time
Waves upon waves,
Sea looks upon in vain
Wiping every effort, again and again

Why do I write!!!
Why do I write on the sand?
Knowing it will be gone
In time, but still I keep on doing
Bridges still is not burned, while she has
Burned her bridges
A life time ago
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WANDERING
______
She wanders alone
(You know any path will take you,
if you don’t know where you are going)
And moves in and out of my thoughts
Like waves upon waves
That crash on the bounded beach
Weaving a cosmic design
With her foot prints
In my heart.
__
Shashi
नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya

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Love, Destiny and death

Jun 28, 2013

THE READER: Family Happiness - Leo Tolstoy

An interesting story (Novella) that I recently read about life. A girl's desires and feelings, before and after marriage to a much older person so beautifully envisaged by Tolstoy. 

Interestingly, this is the first time Tolstoy narrated the story through the main character of the heroine (Masha), which apart from being very difficult for a male, as at the time, he was an young unmarried writer; goes on to show his uncanny ability to get under the skin of his characters.

His amazing description of young girls emotions, his take on the feelings of young and then matured person in the ways of the world of Russian Social life, before and after marriage, is great and to me, looks quite truthful.}

FamilyHappiness, published first time in 1859, like almost all the novels of Tolstoy has an autobiographical connection. Tolstoy (then 31 years old) met 20 year old Valerya Vladimirnova Arsenyeva in 1856, and fell in love. And as told to his biographer, he almost got engaged to her. Later as recollected by Valerya’s daughter in 1926, told to Mr. P Pavlov, that they actually parted company because Valerya refused to accept the conditions which Tolstoy attached to his proposal of marriage: 20 years’ quiet seclusion in the country. 

Though never married, it seems Tolstoy wrote ‘Family Happiness’ – which is about marriage, to prove to himself that their marriage would not have been successful. While he was writing it, he was most enthusiastic about it and described it as a poem, but when he had finished it, he was reluctant to have it published as he disliked it intensely.

Brief Note About The Author
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Since Leo Tolstoy is quite well known, I will skip the usual biodata of the author (Toread it at Wikipedia, click here) but will reproduce something that caught my eyes…

Countess Tolstoy writes about Leo Tolstoy
In 1909, writing of “Who are the murderers?” Countess Tolstoy wrote, “…it could be interesting. But the same old reproach – descriptions of peasant life. His relish at a woman’s full bosom and a girl’s sun burnt legs, all that once so strongly tempted him; … “
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BACK TO THE BOOK...
Now here are some of the thoughts I enjoyed reading from the book…

He (Sergy) was right when he said that there was only one happiness in life – to live for others. (Masha)

“A man can say that he is in love, but a woman cannot.” She (Katya) said. “But I don’t think a man should say he loves someone, either; nor can he,” he (Sergy) said. “Why not,” I (Masha) asked. “Because it always be a lie. Is there really anything, new in the fact that a man loves someone? As if, as soon as he says it, something clicks, bang – he is in love. It is as if, as soon as he pronounces this word, something extraordinary must happen, there should be some omen, all the trumpets should sound at once. It seems to me, “he continued, “that people who solemnly pronounce the words: ‘I love you’ either deceive themselves or, even worse, deceive others.”

It was as if I was in a happy dream in which it seemed that everything in the future had already happened, and that I had known about it for a long time, and yet I felt that it would happen again, and I knew that it would happen. (Masha)

A quiet, secluded life in our country back water, with the possibility of doing good to people whom it is easy to do good to because they are not used to it; then work – work which one thinks is useful, then rest, nature, books, music, love for the person who is close to you – that’s my idea of happiness. (That is) For me, whose youth is over, that is, but not for you,” he went on. “You haven’t lived yet. You may want to look for happiness elsewhere perhaps, and perhaps it is elsewhere that you will find it…” (Sergy)

Can one really feel annoyed about anything, when one is as happy as I am? It is easier to yield than to impose one’s will… (Sergy)

Once I had experienced the happiness of falling in love with him, I could not rest content with affection. I wanted movement, not the calm flow of life. (Masha)

Worst of all, I felt that , with each day, the habits of live were moulding our life into a definite pattern, that our feeling was ceasing to be free and was being subjected to the even, passionless flow of time. (Masha)

I want to move forward, and every day, every hour I want something new, but he wants to stay still and to hold me back with him. (Masha)

My former religious ecstasy and the love I had once felt for him, the old fullness of life, now seemed so distant and impossible. I would not now have understood what had before seemed to me so obvious and right – the happiness of living for someone else. Why live for some else when there is no desire to live for oneself? (Masha)

Why did you let me have my freedom, which I did not know how to use? (Masha)


“There is season for every love…. When I first got to know you I spent sleepless nights thinking of you, and created my own love, and that love grew and grew in my heart, so, in Petersburg and abroad, I spent dreadful nights awake destroying, breaking up that love which tormented me.” (Sergy)
__
Shashi
नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
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How to write a book - Milan Kundera

Jun 27, 2013

THOUGHTS THIS WEEK : Born to be great... & Haiku on Love

“All of us are born to achieve greatness, as we all are part of an elegant and supreme cosmic design, endowed with certain design and passions, which like our DNA, keeps guiding us to be what we are supposed to be. But then some of us don’t because, as we flowered into a full human being, we didn't believe in our own inner voice, our passions.

Remember, to be unconscious of our passion is much bigger failure than to actually fail to achieve the greatness, we all are designed to achieve; born to achieve.” – V.E.D



HAIKU OF THE WEEK
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Love is clear mirror
Of soul; unveiled beyond dust
Memories and lust




READING THIS WEEK
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“The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga” By Carl Jung

As early as 1912, in Transformation and Symbols of the Libido, Jung provided psychological interpretations of passages in the Upanishads and the Rig Veda. I really enjoyed his thought that as the psyche is highly complicated, vast in extent, and rich in elements unknown to us, and as its aspects overlap and interweave with one another to such an amazing degree, that we always turn to symbols in order to try to represent what we know about it. And goes on to say, “The chakras, then, become a Valuable guide for us in this obscure field because the East, and India especially, has always tried to understand the psyche as a whole. It has an intuition of the self, and therefore it sees the ego and consciousness as only more or less unessential parts of the self.”
               
In book “ThePsychology of Kundalini Yoga” based on the series of lectures given in Germany in the year 1932, Jung specified his psychological understanding of tantric yoga as follows:

"Indian philosophy is namely the interpretation given to the precise condition of the non-ego, which affects our personal psychology, however independent from us it remains. It sees the aim of human development as bringing about an approach to and connection between the specific nature of the non- ego and the conscious ego. Tantra yoga then gives a representation of the condition and the developmental phases of this impersonality, as it itself in its own way produces the light of a higher  supra-personal consciousness."


A beautiful book and its sure to enter my selection of books featured in this blog, as listed on the right hand side column above… Hope you will come back to check it out. 
__
Shashi
नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya

This post is written as a part of 'All that Matters' contest at BlogAdda.com in association with INK Talks 2013.

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Courage to soar and Haiku Solitude

Jun 14, 2013

HAIKU TEA: SESSION IV-V - 'Before it all ends' & 'Journey of life'

WHAT ARE HAIKU TEA SESSIONS?
If you write, love collaborative writing, enthusiast of poetry and enjoy writing short verse like Haiku, Tanka, Renga, Renshi etc, then Haiku Tea sessions are for you... (Click here to join in for the Session VI).

Some weeks back I have had created a group on Google Plus for Haiku enthusiasts and through a suggestion of one of the friends, I started Linked Verse Sessions known as 'HaikuTea' on the lines of traditional Japanese style of public collaboration of writing poetry, where were quite popular in ancient Japan and China. These HaikuTea session at the group is getting to be quite popular in the group and the result - The Final Verse of 19 poets linked verse is for you to judge about the excellent quality of work these session produce... each one with their color and hue, paint the canvass of the emotions, feelings and thoughts in brilliant shades... Loved it.

The poets who are linked in these sessions are through invites only. If you are interested to be invited, please leave a comment on this link, (Click Here) with your concurrence AFTER READING THE RULES OF COLLABORATION....

HAIKU TEA LINKED VERSE SESSION IV : 29.04.2013
__________________________________

BEFORE IT ALL ENDS

Hung between my mind;
Her Heart; A wish waits; "Hold me
Again, before it ends"                            By 
+Shashi S 

in echoes of glissando ---
Rhapsody in Blue                                  By 
+Carolyn St.Charles 

An EPIC composition
Her wish is granted"                               By 
+A. M. Frasier 

deep fires dissolving time
love, fed by freedom                             By 
+jamer nicholls 

Questing for Eternity:
She seeks its portal.                              By 
+Gabri Rigotti 

gateway to her inner self
setting longings free                              By 
+John Belchamber  

expressions of exhaling!
gateway,she is in                                   By 
+craig volney 

Reflections of a deep love
Mirror to his mind                                  By 
+Francis JA 

Obscured via dragon walls -
Rendezvous arranged.                           BY 
+Berteena Gaines 

in secret corners of dark.
She is the goddess.                              By 
+Joe Nicholas 
craved by many, loved by none!
a diamond hidden...                              By 
+Dan Del Carmen 

Her Myriad pain, silenced
Eyes held in capture                              by 
+Uma Maheswari Anandane 

peering ...deep... salacious...
desire to return                                      By 
+Daniel Davila 

so much lost . . . so much given
why have I come here                            By 
+Harley King 

in a world full of sadness -
the little child smiles                              By 
+Kristjaan Panneman 

Again; relearn, reincarnation
Before it all ends                                   By 
+Shashi S 


HAIKU TEA LINKED VERSE SESSION V  : 20.05.2013
______________________________________________


JOURNEY OF LIFE

Beauty of path
Lies, not in eternal wait
Of life; but in End                                  By 
+Shashi S 

The life cycle continues ...
New journey begins                               By 
+A. M. Frasier 

our footsteps — strong yet gentle
soft breeze stirs our hearts                    By 
+Harley King 

wafting scents of adventure
perfumed paradise                                By 
+John Belchamber 

A garden for all to see
Serendipity                                           By 
+Francis JA 

the reflections at their feet
mirrors of still ponds                             By 
+Gabri Rigotti 

now quivering fractal pools --
singing Buddha bowls                           By 
+Carolyn St.Charles 

luring the doves to their peace -
white feathers tremble                            By 
+Joe Nicholas 

loving process one with all
flutters with the wind                              By 
+Daniel Davila 

aspiring wish dreams in spring
human mortal mind.                               By 
+Bhawana Bhowmik 

Dawns love; harmony in spring
Journey to explore !                              By 
+Uma Maheswari Anandane 

Seek, bright mind; strive on, brave heart,
'Til stillness finds you.                           By 
+Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu 

the journey of your life continues -
Honeysuckle (*) blooms                         By 
+Kristjaan Panneman 

(*) the spiritual meaning of Honeysuckle is the path to find your Inner Self

in finding the paradise
elixirs of life                                          By 
+craig volney 

and harmonic quintessence
meet cosmic dancer                              By 
+Berteena Gaines 

Moving to the rhythm of
Our Grand Orchestra                              By 
+Dan Del Carmen 

glimpses of synchrony seen,
ebbing and flowing....                            By 
+Haiku Rambler 

ebbing and flowing
Lies, not in eternal wait
Of life; but in End                                  By 
+Daniel Davila 

RULES OF PARTICIPATION

1) This is INVITES only effort, so you need to get invited. So leave a comment below to be invited.
2) You will have to have a Google Plus account and have to be a member of the Group Haiku at Google Plus
3) Once you are invited, you will be given a chronicle order, on the basis of your joining. You will have to write your linked verse, after a particular member which will be listed out on the HaikuTea page at the group.
4) At your turn you will have to write within 24 hours your own linked verse.
5) The linked verse have to have the first line as the last line of the previous linked verse and rest of the two lines you will have to create on your own.
6) You will have to follow the short form of poetry, preferably in the 5-7-5 Syllable format.
7) If, for any reason, you are not able to write your own verse within 24 hours, the next person in the order will be free to write his / her own verse, within 24 hours… and so on.
8) Each HaikuTea linked verses will go on till every member of the group has finished writing one of his/her own or if the linked verse has gone beyond 100 linked verses or a particular time limit which will be decided by the moderator of the HaikuTea.
9) The compilation of the individual verses will be done at the end by a person nominated by the moderator and/or the members.
10) Final decision on this collaboration is with the moderator.
PLEASE NOTE: You agree, by participating for this collaborative poetry HaikuTea Sessions, to be published in various blogs by the members (with due credit to each individual participating) as well as a final collection to be printed by end of the year. Look forward to your joining in the team…. Please click here to join HaikuTea....
Let me know if you have any questions.

To participate in the ongoing Session VI at Haiku Tea, please click here...
__
Shashi
नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya


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HaikuTea Session III Final Verse

Jun 10, 2013

THE READER: Testament Betrayed by Milan Kundera

Testament Betrayed is a book which brings out the times that we live in and how we become what we are. A collection of essays which brings out arrays of ideas in a coherent narrative. For the writer’s its kind of challenge that Milan Kundera throws to come out of the set thought pattern and travel out of one’s comfort zone to explore spaces that sometimes are dark, filled with unknown doubts but sometimes brings out the light as at the end of tunnel. Inspired me to think beyond the form of writing novel, structure and the limits of thought out characters. Made me to write the way one talks to a friend… 

Giving below some of very powerful thoughts from the book “Testament Betrayed”. If you are a serious aspiring author, then you must read this book and if you have time, check out my feature on “How To Write A Book” based on his thoughts from “The Art Of Writing Novel”. Click here to read…

MILAN KUNDERA – A Brief Biography
Milan Kundera (born 1 April 1929) is the Czech Republic's most recognized living writer of Czech origin, he has lived in exile in France since 1975, having become a naturalised citizen in 1981.

Kundera's best-known work is The Unbearable Lightness of Being. His books were banned by the Communist regimes of Czechoslovakia until the downfall of the regime in the Velvet Revolution of 1989. He lives virtually incognito and rarely speaks to the media. A perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature, he has been nominated on several occasions

He belonged to the generation of young Czechs who had had little or no experience of the pre-war democratic Czechoslovak Republic. Their ideology was greatly influenced by the experiences of World War II and the German occupation. Kundera remained committed to reforming Czech communism, and argued vehemently in print with fellow Czech writer Václav Havel, saying, essentially, that everyone should remain calm and that "nobody is being locked up for his opinions yet," and "the significance of the Prague Autumn may ultimately be greater than that of the Prague Spring." Finally, however, Kundera relinquished his reformist dreams and moved to France in 1975. He taught for a few years in the University of Rennes. He was stripped of Czechoslovak citizenship in 1979; he has been a French citizen since 1981.

He maintains contacts with Czech and Slovak friends in his homeland, but rarely returns and always does so incognito.

TESTAMENT BETRAYED
Kundera is more concerned with the words that shape or mould his characters than with the characters'
physical appearance. In his non-fiction work, The Art of the Novel, he says that the reader's imagination automatically completes the writer's vision. He, as the writer, wishes to focus on the essential insofar as the physical is not critical to an understanding of the character. For him the essential may not include the physical appearance or even the interior world (the psychological world) of his characters. Other times, a specific feature or trait may become the character's idiosyncratic focus.

Thoughts from  Testament Betrayed

The removal of Gods from the world is one of the phenomenons that characterize the Modern Era.

An important note: imitation does not mean lack of authenticity, for the individual cannot do otherwise than imitate what has already happened; sincere as he maybe, he is only a reincarnation; truthful as he may be, he is only a sum of the suggestions and requirements that emanate from the well of the past.

All of man’s love seeks to win woman’s good will and kindness – Kafka (The Enchanted Kingdom of Love)

Through ecstasy, emotion reaches its climax, and thereby at the same time its negation (its oblivion)

Ecstasy is absolute identity with the present instant, total forgetting of past and future.

Living is a perpetual heavy effort not to lose sight of ourselves, to stay solidly present in ourselves, in our stasis. Step outside ourselves for a mere instant, and we verge on death’s dominion.

History is not necessarily a path climbing upwards (Towards the richer, the more cultivated), that the demands of art may be counter to the demands of the moment (of this or that modernity), and that the new (the unique, the inimitable, the previously unsaid) might lie in some direction other than the one everybody sees as progress.

“Among it’s mad enticements, one could only walk still farther, go still astray” Kafka

His seeking mouth found hers, which was now pressed against his like the muzzle of an animal against a pane of glass, and Esch was enraged because she kept her soul imprisoned behind her set teeth, to prevent him from possessing it.” – Broch’s “The sleepwalkers”

“She was seeking something and he was seeking something, maddened, grimacing, heads thrusting into each other’s chest as they sought, and their embraces and their tossing bodies did not make them forget but rather reminded them of the necessity to seek, as dogs desperately paw at the ground they pawed each others body… “ Kafka in The Castle

“A thought comes when it wants to, and not when I want it to” Nietzsche


We should neither conceal nor corrupt the actual way our thoughts come to us” Nietzsche

Great changes often have an unobtrusive appearance.

Tolstoy thus offers us another conception of man: he is an itinerary; a winding road; a journeys whose successive phases not only vary but often represent a total negation of the preceding phases.

They (People) change not in order to draw closer to some essential self but in order to merge with everyone else; changing lets them stay unchanged.

Rock is the only light music in which melody is not predominant; people don’t hum rock music.

Memories are only confirmation of an absence.

What is an individual? Wherein does his identity reside? All novels seek to answer these questions.

When we study, discuss, analyze a reality, we analyze it as it appears in our mind, in our memory. We know reality only in the past tense. … Present moment is unlike the memory of it. Remembering is not the negative of forgetting. Remembering is a form of forgetting.

Beethoven saw that the only way to get around, what Milan Kundera termed as ‘Stupidity of music’ ( – weeping into their adagios, and then turning into little children when the last moment starts, starting into the school yard to dance, hop, and holler that all’s well that ends well) is to make composition radically individual.

Milan’s music teacher to him “There are many surprisingly weak passages in Beethoven. But it is the weak passages that bring out the strong ones. It’s like lawn – if it weren’t there, we could not enjoy the beautiful tree growing on it.”
__
Shashi
नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
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HOW TO WRITE A BOOK