Sensitive and thoughtful men

To find sensitive, intelligent, thoughtful men is something rare. Most of the men I see are consumed by cares of money and market; of buying, selling, saving. The rest are consumed by sports or hooked to gadgets. Rarely does anyone have a genuine passion, creativity or care for anything outside of themselves. We have to transcend space and time to meet men of depth and deeper insights. 

All through history it is men who have inspired us with the greatest in action, thought, philosophy, music and art; Viktor Frankl, Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, Tagore, Gandhi, Kuvempu, Emerson, Tolstoy, Oliver Sacks, Dag Hammarskjold, Morihei Ueshiba, Khalil Gibran, Lao Tzu, J. Krishnamurti, Thiruvalluvar and many more.

Joy animates the world ..

While watching Blue Planet the other day, the narrator Sir David Attenborough mentions that scientists have not been able to unravel the mystery of why the dolphins ride the waves.  He then concludes that they probably do simply for the joy of it.

Why do children play? Why do the birds sing? Why do we dance? Why the synchronized dance of a swarm of birds?  All for the joy of it ....

It is indeed joy that animates the world. When there is no joy in our hearts, we are crippled. All our activities dwindle down and we withdraw into ourselves.

The joy that permeates the universe is called Anandam in Sanskrit. The ancient seers saw into this truth and proclaimed in the Upanishads that "From joy are born all creatures, by joy they are sustained, towards joy they progress and unto joy they return" 

Homesickness and longing

Only one who has strayed far away from the motherland knows of homesickness and the angst and longing for home. From the frigid north, crossing continents and oceans I arrive home to mix and mingle in the heat, dust and sweat of the homeland; my body longs to be toasted like a coffee bean in the familiar heat. 

Payannur, Kerala, India

Time and again, I am awed by the living wealth of this land; the fertile red mud, the grand rivers, the pouring rain and intense heat, the spectacular variety and multitude of plants and animals that live and thrive here. Tagore's song "Sarthok janom amar" resonates with the sentiments of my heart.

Blessed am I that I am born to this land and that I had the luck to love her.
What care I if queenly treasures are not in her store but precious
Enough is for me the living wealth of her love.
The best gift of fragrance to my heart is from her own flowers
And I know not where else shines the moon that can flood my
Being with such loveliness.
The first light revealed to my eyes was from her own sky and let
The same light kiss them before they are closed for ever.
(Translation by Tagore)

Sarthok janom amar ami janmechi ai deshe
Sarthok janom ma go tomai bhalobese
Jani ne tor dhanraton ache ki na ranir maton
Sudhu jani amar ango jurai tomar chayai ase
Kon banete jani ne phul gandhe amon kare akul
Kon gagone othe re chad amon hasi hese
Aakhi mele tomar alo pratham amar chokh juralo
Oi alote nayon rekhe mudbo nayon seshe