ON MY FIFTY-EIGHTH DUSSEHRA DAY






My friends and enemies alike – both Ramas and Ravanas - have started forwarding this Dussehra message even before the Sun had come out today…

‘Dasha Hara’ is a Sanskrit word which means removal of ten bad qualities within you.

KAMA VASANA (Lust)

KRODHA (Anger)

MOHA (Attachment)

LOBHA (Greed)

MADA (Pride)

MATSARA (Jealousy)

SWARTHA (Selfishness)’

ANYAAYA (Injustice)

AMANAVTA (Cruelty)

AHANKARA (Ego)

It’s also known as ‘Vijayadhashami’ which means vijaya (victory) over these ten bad qualities

May you be blessed to win over all evils and may Eternal Love, Peace, Joy and Wonders occupy life completely.


Happy Dussehara!

This is my fifty-eighth Dussehra… and, I really smile when I think about this reality: the ten bad qualities are very much there in my heart as the permanent residents there… They are ‘bad’ I know… But, they somehow refuse to go even if I try to push them out… beat them up… burn them, burry them… bomb them. Yes, they are there right inside my heart!


Don’t I have ‘Kama’ – the lust? Oh, loads of it…

Don’t I have ‘Krodha’ – the anger? Loads of it…

Don’t I have ‘Moha’ – I am a liar if I say I don’t have!

What about ‘Mada’ – the pride… and what about ‘Ahankara’ – the Ego… the big, big I, me and myself?

Am I not selfish and jealous? Am I not cruel and not always just to people around me?


I have not been able to live this life of fifty-eight years in this world free from these ten bad qualities… and, I don’t think I will be able to live my remaining years free from them…

Dussehras will come and Dussehras will go meanwhile… The ten bad qualities will be there as my life-long allies in this sojourn called LIFE…

Inside my heart, I can see both good and bad… I am the Ram and I am the Ravana… If so, who should destroy whom? If all evil in me is destroyed, why am I living here in this world… It is not a heaven, after all?

Yes, I am asking this today… on my fifty-eighth Dussehra day!


GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Internet

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...