Saturday, October 29, 2005

Right of Freedom

I have been mulling over this topic for a while. How many of us understand what freedom means to us and how well equipped are we to handle the consummate freedom.

Is freedom a state of mind that has no ripple of thought crossing it? It’s the inner freedom and the real freedom. Unconstrained by the physical bounds, the real freedom means to go above the thoughts and mental mind. Lemme tell you what I think, instead of being a part of a team as a team player, go beyond and become the master of the team, you have the control of the team. Similarly, control your thoughts, be the master of your thought, don’t be a part and sail along with the thoughts. When you are able to see the world of thought, rising high above it, you have the power to turn on and off your thoughts, that’s when you will enjoy the real freedom. You should be able to toggle between the on and off button of your thoughts, just the way you would turn on and off the engine of your car, being in this state, one might enjoy the real freedom.

Next, what are we talking about the right of freedom, right of freedom of speech, etc… According to me, freedom is something that is not to be snatched from or asked for. We are born with freedom; we don’t have to fight for it. Freedom is granted to us by ourselves; we need to realize our values, aspirations, responsibilities, motivations and goals in order to define what freedom means to us and act accordingly. When everyone realizes this, I guess there is no question of one being forced to abide by law…

Now I see that the word ‘freedom’ which is so complex and profound by itself, is understood by few people, and fewer among them realize its significance. Where is the question of using the freedom without gauging its worth? Well, that is exactly what I am witnessing here. I see people thrown out into the battle field without having taught the lesson of self-defense. The reason why I bring in this comparison is because I see world itself as a battle field. Each individual is let into this realm without appropriate training – don’t you think we need to be handling the kids in the school in a much better way than we are currently? Is there any institution in this world that teaches these very fundamental concepts, train the kid’s minds to think in this direction, train them to make them strong enough to face the harsh gnawing cruelties in this world? We teach kids how the nuclear bombs are created, the complex processes involved, don’t you think along with that we need to teach them and train their mind in a way as to think what the bombs could mean to them and how well it could be used for either the development or destruction of human-kind?

Sadly, freedom was less understood by our great national leaders of India when they fought for it way back in 1947. I wish we had more of freedom fighters like Bhagat singh who were more of thinkers than pleaders to have perceived the meaning of ‘Freedom of Nation’ even before daring to ask for one – perhaps, our country would not have been in the state it is currently in.

Everyone asks for freedom but very few are ready for it. Being ready for it by itself involves the individual and nobody else; the kid has to be taught how to eat though he inherently possess the hunger, similarly, we need to teach kids to formulate and define freedom for themselves though each one is gifted with the right of freedom.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

A Rejuvenating Force - Music Personified!!!

In the midst of a deafening silence, I hear this song – “There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando…!!!” – One of my all time favorite pieces of music, kindles my long last forgotten memories of my sweet little cousin, who would swing his head back and forth to this rhythmic song, surrendering to his harsh, screeching hue…Being persistent with this, I further go revisit all my disguised moments of ecstasy, anguish, accomplishment, exasperation, sustenance, recuperation predominated by music…

Think of this, times when an exhilarating music brought tears to ur eyes rolling down ur cheeks, an excruciating gnawing music sending shivers down ur spines, a devotional song wringing out the spell of renunciation and reunion with the inner soul, a rhythmic tune to which ur mind and heart starts dancing inadvertently, a romantic tune that left u mesmerized…finally, an ode of joy and sorrow that upheld u during the moments of despair…

Music has been playing such a pivotal role in my life that I dare not stop myself from delving deep into this unfathomable, abstract feeling…Well, Is music synonymous to a feeling, do we stigmatize a feeling as being an abstract entity? Lot of questions, answers to which are impenetrably mundane, titillate your inner self to figure out answers…

Why does music elicit feelings, it begets physiological changes, proven by scientific experiments. I am not attempting to be a neuroscientist; this is just what I think…
Brain is composed of different regions, somewhat analogous to life, I keep reiterating the philosophy of life – Life is compartmentalized, each phase of life gets activated once and you get to enjoy that aspect of life only during then…I tend to get digressed very easily nowadays:D, well coming back to the brain and its intricacies, each neuron remains in a state of limbo, unless an external stimuli instigates it… This again reminds me of “War of the Worlds” (besides, the fact that I love to hate that movie) wherein an external signal ignites the buried dormant vehicles. When the brain receives signals of certain frequency, the region of brain that is capable of perceiving that wavelength processes it and subsequently the neuron is activated. The patterns of neuron activation monopolizes the feelings, each of this pattern represents one unique feeling. Does this establish the relationship between the music and subtle nuances of mood? Well, the entire processing is not this simple, there is more to it. How does the brain treat the music, how precisely does one describe the processing of music tones in the brain – still an intriguing biological mystery?

How do I relate to music – it’s an indispensable element of my life, everything seems to be so inconsistent and ephemeral to me – ‘This too shall pass…’ a 4 worded-phrase circumscribes the integrity of a multidimensional endurance. Pandemonium engulfing the reality of existence transcends any feeling but for a feeling of oneness with music – a feeling of an eternal consanguinity – something that I fear not of losing!!!