The Monsoons are here

It monsoons here in India. I love this time of the year. The literal meaning of monsoon is seasonal which comes from Arabic (mausim). The Arabs were the first to discover and study the phenomenon of monsoon in the Indian Ocean. Monsoon is the seasonal reversal of the direction of wind. It is so much like life where with time and changing seasons there is a change in the state that we may find ourselves in. There are the happy times and then there the the sad times but nothing lasts forever. With time happiness gives way to sadness, tears give way to smiles, and loneliness gives way to companionship and love and the hope and faith to carry on the path of life expecting times and situations to change.

Today I went out for dinner with a friend and the hotel had this interesting display using umbrellas to celebrate the season. I loved the way it looked and hence clicked a picture to share with you all.

Also spoke (on the phone) at length to a friend  -Gil- from Israel who is visiting India for work and whom I am planning to see sometime in September if possible. I didn't tell him about my predicament but we talked about a lot of other stuff. He quoted a line by Osho which I really liked -

"Life is a mystery to be lived

not a problem to be solved"

Simple but powerful. It gives me hope and direction in this time when I need it. I don't know much about Osho - an Indian spiritual teacher - so I wouldn't comment but he was notoriously famous for his liberal views on sexuality. There is a meditation resort devoted to him in Pune, Maharashtra, India which is very famous with Westerners and the rich and famous in India. Osho was also criticized for his display of opulence (he had a fleet a Rolls Royce- about 90!!) to which he replied that he did not believe that material poverty was a spiritual value.

While I was writing this blog entry I decided to look for some excerpts from Osho's discourses and came upon one on making love-

Don't take the sex act as going anywhere. Don't take it as a means - it is the end in itself. There is no end to it; it is not a means. Secondly, don't think of the future; remain with the present. And if you cannot remain in the present in the beginning part of a sexual act, then you can never remain in the present - because the very nature of the act is such that you are thrown to the present.
Remain in the present. Enjoy the meeting of two bodies, two souls, and merge into each other - melt into each other. Forget that you are going anywhere. Remain in the moment going nowhere, and melt. Warmth, love, should be made a situation to melt into each other.
That's why, if there is no love, the sex act is a hurried act. You are using the other; the other is just a means. And the other is using you. You are exploiting each other, not merging into each other. With love you can merge. This merging, in the beginning, will give many new insights.
If you are not in a hurry to finish the act, the act by and by becomes less and less sexual and more and more spiritual. Sex organs also melt into each other. A deep, silent communion happens between two body energies, and then you can remain for hours together. This togetherness moves deeper and deeper as time passes. But don't think. Remain with the moment, deeply merged. It becomes an ecstasy, a samadhi. And if you can know this, if you can feel and realize this, your sexual mind will become non-sexual.

Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, Vol. I

Photo Credit: Mragrimm, Oscarinho

Gil's Wisdom

Of late I have observed that for some reason I have been losing touch with all my good friends (it's not that I have many). I think it's that I don't want to be seen as lonely and needy that I don't bother them and keep waiting for them to call. Whatever the reason may be I thought rather than think about it I do something about it. Last year on my trip to Dharamshala (the seat of Tibetan Government in exile) with some 'friends' I met a very interesting personality. His is Gil and is theater artist and Zen Buddhism teacher from Israel. We met at a cafe and he started talking to one of my friends in Tamil. It was later that he told us that he could also speak fluent Hindi!! During the conversation somehow we got talking and really connected. None of my 'friends' know I am gay and so that didn't figure in the talks. But we talked about all kinda stuff for a little while. Then we had to part cause I had to leave for the night with my 'friends'. We decided to meet the next day (all of us) and once gain we shared some interesting conversation. 

Ever since we have been touch through email and now Gil is back in India though way south and very far from where I live and we have spoken a few times over the phone. Today during one of my lonely moments I decided to call him and once again we got talking about all kind of stuff. Somehow we seem to never run out of things to talk about and I share a great comfort level with him which is very rare for me.

I also told him how he was the first person whom I saw doing the thing in life he really enjoyed and that showed in his aura. He has a presence of tranquility, calmness and happiness on his face which is hard to miss. Single guy in the city in his latest post has mentioned how people in jobs that they don't like age earlier than their counterparts and I think that is true. I told Gil how I wanted to one day be able to own a quaint little cafe with art work by little known artist on display and lots of books and my favourite music. A place to share all the above. But as of now my folks aren't very excited about the idea and I don't have the means to make it happen. 

He replied that the main problem in the world is that our parents want us to be something other than what we may want to be and that they aren't proud of what we may become but they are proud when we have turned into a copy of them or the vision that they imagined for us. He told me to follow my heart and said that 

" Following the path that our heart asks us to may be difficult but choosing the other path will end up being 1000 times more difficult in the end."

I agree with each word he said but I don't know if and when will my dreams come true. It's a long journey but I hope some day I do reach my destination. And that when I do I have the arms of someone I truly love and who truly love me to rest in!!

The pictures on the top are of my favourite cafe at Ubud, Bali which have inspired me to one day own a cafe. The 1st one is the Lotus Cafe at Ubud which is situated around a temple surrounded by a pond with Lotus. In the courtyard of the temple every night live performances of Balineses dance are held. The other is a cafe in Ubud, Bali called ' Coffee and Silver'  and is owned by a Dutch and his Balinese wife. He has on display silver jewellery designed by his ex wife and some great homeware and antiques. The cafe serves the most amazing Chocolate cake (picture attached) for which we had to visit the cafe thrice because everytime that we went they were sold out. But it was worth the trips. It just melts in your mouth.