salaam

ALAIKUM
I made a dua for you today and I know Allah must have heard

I felt the answer in my heart although He spoke no word

I didn’t ask for wealth or fame I knew you wouldn’t mind

I asked him to send you treasures of a far more lasting kind

I asked that he’d be near to you at the start of each new day

And grant you health and blessings and friends to share your way

I asked for happiness for you in all things great and small

But it was for His love and care I prayed for you most af all.

May Allah on this very day bring you something special:

A thought that makes you smile

A smile that warms your  heart

&

A heart that holds much happiness inside.

Jummah Mubarak

Finding trust and commitment to it, in today’s world, seems an improbability. Finding desire to work for others without an agenda, seems an improbability too. In a materialistic world, especially in regions which survive and exist only on the factor of personal aggrandizement through the process of value in terms of gain, not in substance for the heart but for the body, there remains very little for any thing else.

If peace of body and mind is required, the suggestions are to travel beyond the mountains to the highest and most remote peaks among the Himalayas, the world’s tallest mountains. To be able to discover perhaps why the place that could, materially, be closer to the Almighty, if that is where He or She resides. To attain solitude, for solitude environmentally builds that exclusive moment of being away from all else and to be able to be with oneself and oneself alone. That finding yourself in the quiet of what God built could perhaps construct a moment when He or She would present themselves to you. Who knows !

The great saints and ‘rishi’s’ and ‘muni’s’ sought solace there. Why there ? Why not here where humanity exists and struggles in pain and hardship and uncertainty. Was it the distance from temptation, from distraction ? But if they were exalted in being, would distraction and temptation ever be an obstruction. They were after all superior beings.

But places of pilgrimage of prayer and meditation exist and flourish in the remote and we are indoctrinated into believing that that indeed is the right course to be taken. There must be some method in that. There must be some method in the belief also, that solace could be found even in the most inhabited locations as well. Perhaps more so, because the odds were greater. I am unable to say or reflect.

He or She for the Almighty has had serious debate.

Rousseau and his concept of the General Will comes to mind. Why? There is mistrust and dislike for the phrase of the ‘common man’, not only for reasons of gender politics, but equally so by the connotations of ‘common’. It is felt strongly that it is disrespectful, and for many reasons. Yet there is a powerful sentiment that can underlie its better use, which, simply because one dislikes the phrase itself, should not be lost along with it. Hence,I am  reminded of the General Will. It ties in with that shifting, impossible, but essential concept of Fraternity, which binds Liberty and Equality together in the real world of a collective human existence.

In our descriptions of the ‘aam aadmi’, so commonly prevalent in political jingoism in India vis a vis schemes and benefits that they talk of, a literal translation has come to the connotation of ‘common man’, and is a term generally used, without I am certain, any intent of harming the concept of gender bias or religion, but there it is … and does one think that there is reason enough in it for debate and discussion. If so I would love to be able to hear some voices on it.

And now a warning …

There is a serious effort by a member that writes and comments on this blog to use language and expression that is abusive,filthy and utterly disgusting. I have brought this to the notice of the authorities and corrective measures to see none of the stuff that comes from this foul mouthed individual shall ever be allowed on this platform. Any further attempt from this person shall now be under legal cyber space action, now very prominently activated in this country. Further more. This individual has been sending me the most unprintable abuse on sms on my phone. I have after great tolerance for many months now reported the matter to the police and they will be taking serious punitive action, not just in my country but in the country of the origin of these missives.

This blog, this platform, this home for our extended family members is a sacred and revered destination and any attempt to defile it shall be dealt with in the most severe manner.

Amitabh Bachchan