Gerald D'Cunha

M ost of my inner unrest comes from the fact that I resist the unpleasant experiences in my life. The moment the resistance stops and acceptance comes, along with that comes peace too. Peace and resistance cannot live in the same living-room… Interestingly, peace doesn’t call for any ‘effort’… It only calls for ‘clarity… my ability, my readiness to ‘see’ what ‘is’… the reality, the truth… That’s all what is called for peace… I can be in the midst of sorrow, hurt and pain… I can be surrounded by my tormentors and torments… even in such unpleasant state, peace – call it serenity, grace or silence – can just come home. My inner turmoil, therefore, is directly proportionate to the resistance I throw out in my life… resistance to my every unpleasant experience… And the beauty lies right here: The moment I see the truth that my turmoil is coming from my resistance, I am freed from the chains of resistance… Silence just settles in! It is a lifelong roller-coaster…...

Pic.Anjana Srivastava A rjuna was Kshatriya, a fighter. And, he was the best fighter of his time. Still, when it came to the epic battle at Kurukshetra, he was a mentally-tortured soul... He did not want to fight his own cousins and uncles... even though he knew he was the best fighter and even though he was on the side of the ‘righteousness’... That’s why, when Krishna, the Lord who ruled Dwaraka in human form, offered a choice to Arjuna to accept his (Krishna’s) mighty army to fight for him (Arjuna) or to take Krishna himself as his guide and counselor, the great fighter, Arjuna, chose the latter. He urged Krishna to guide him as his charioteer, which Krishna did... Arjuna’s plight is our plight, too. In life, who wants war, leave alone a war with one’s own near-and-dear ones? Like him, most of us try to avoid war... we go through our mental conflict: Should we? How can we? We plead God to do away the war from us... our ‘cup’, our ‘test’... In Mahabharata...

When our little-ones get bored during their two-hour PD sessions, they want something to light-up their hearts... Some short movie, some songs-videos which can make them dance, some quiz, riddles or jokes and, mostly, some games. Because I want them to become leaders, overcome their shyness, I always encourage them to come out with their own stress-buster ideas. Believe me, they come out with plenty... It's always games galore... Right from Dumb-charades to Chinese Whispers. They enjoy.... I, too. Last afternoon, while they were playing 'Chinese Whispers', I wondered if they knew that's how almost all of us went about communicating in our daily lives. There were about twenty-five of those little ones, all below age 13. The little lady in the first bench here whispered something into the little-fellow's ears, next to her. The message got transmitted from ear to ear till it reached the last b...

The flight of a mighty eagle is inspiring… The eagle calls me to the skies! But, even the mightiest eagle comes down to the treetops to rest! All great empires in the world-history, have come, lived and perished … So have their Emperors… All great nations have lived their time… So have their heads - the Presidents or the Prime Ministers… All great business-empires have had their time in the Sun… The tycoons had their life-span, too… Every great celebrity – the Superstar of movie and the music world – has lost his shine as Time went by… The rich and the famous, the high and the mighty… all of them came here, on this earth, with their respective ‘expiry date’ marked on them… They came carrying nothing… They went carrying nothing… Dust to dust… Ashes to ashes. Amen! Well, what is new in it? You know it, I know it… everyone knows it: That, we all came empty-handed to this world and ...

In another context, I was writing today a report. And, I ended it with these lines: “What is true, will always triumph; What is not, will not!” Well, I will tell you on another day as to the context in which I had written those lines. But, I did write them feeling for them in every pore of my being!  Yes, I meant it: “What is true, will always triumph; What is not, will not!” How does the Universe operate and how does Life thrive on this planet… How do the stars live for eons… from do they come and to where do they go… How do all things in the skies and the oceans and all things on land and human hearts keep their rhythm so beautifully, well, I have no idea.  What Science tells me, I have simply ‘accepted’… to be true. But, my acceptance of the truth does hardly matter for all things to go about the way they do.  So, how am I so sure of what I had written, today: “What is true, will always triu...

There is nothing wrong in crying in public… and crying like a baby, too. Yes, in full view of the world, too. Nothing wrong… If you feel like crying, feel overwhelmed… go all the way and sob like a baby… Let the world see you cry, let them know how human you are… how honest, how genuine… And, when you do that… Take it from me: they too will… Your hearts will connect! Honest people cry. One of the important things, I keep reminding our youngsters when they are on stage is: “Don’t deny your feelings… Own them up!” In the start, they do not understand the message of what I have said.  “You are nervous on stage is a fact,” I explain to them, “Acknowledge this fact… Do not deny it… Do not suppress it, control it or manipulate it… Don’t live a lie!” Often, I encourage the young ones to openly admit on stage that they are nervous… their palms are wet and cold… their hands and legs tremble… hearts pound… and, the minds have stopped...

“Everything that is right – is wrong!” EVERYTHING THAT IS RIGHT – IS WRONG! I do not know from where did the above line pop up in my heart, even before I opened my eyes, this morning… and, why I keep humming it, even now, in my mind: “Everything that is right – is wrong!” I really feel I need someone like Joseph of Old Testament to decode my dream – this mystery. To tell me: What does this line mean? Why do I feel so strong for it? And, why am I, now, so compelled to write about it? So, like the King of Egypt, who surrendered before this interpreter of dreams, I now allowed myself to be. The Joseph in me asked, “Why do you want to be right? Why are you so compelled to argue and prove the other person wrong?” Well, honestly, I had never thought about it… All that I knew was I had this obsessive need in me to be right… and prove that the other person is wrong! So, I mumbled, “Because, I know I am right… and, he doesn’t a...

When I first read the book ‘Loving What Is’, by Byron Katie, I had come to realize that stress in my life is the result of an ‘unexamined problem’. That, what happens in my life does not cause stress in my life, but the story that I weave around it , in my mind, does. So, she urges us to write down, as clearly as possible, our ‘Problem’… what we think as the cause of our stress… and she leads us, through a very therapeutic inquiry, just through her four simple questions… Mrs. Katie calls this inquiry - 'The Work'. By the end of dealing with these four simple questions… yes, when we have answered sincerely these four questions, we will be left with nothing or no one to blame! We realize that  it is our life, and, hence, it is our business… Situation changes when its perception changes… Till then, we would only go crazy wanting to make a cat bark! As Mrs. Katie, so beautifully, tells us that, at the end of all our frantic attempts to do that, the ca...

I n my last post, I recounted a story narrated to us by one of our Sunday school teachers. The moral of this story was: God knows what we think… and He sees what we do. There is no place in this world, where we can hide from Him. I was very small when I heard this story… and, as I told you in my post, some things in life, always, stay in our minds. This story has. Another story comes to my mind. Mrs. Satyawati was a lean, fair and gentle soul. She was our teacher in first standard. Yes, about forty-seven years ago. I still remember this Panchatantra story she had narrated to us. In fact, it was in the form of a musical; she had so beautifully sung it and enacted to us, the little ones. I still remember how I had cried in the class… and, how I had come home and recounted the story to my parents… So passionate was my teacher’s presentation that it would not go even till I go. One late evening, a cow was returning to her home through a jungle. A hungry tiger came to attack her. S...

I t is difficult – really difficult – to be ‘simple and uncomplicated’ in life.  The place where I reside was once a very beautiful place. There were fields around, mountains nearby… and, we thought we had come to a silent and peaceful locality. Within years, this place has become unrecognizable. Our Society is surrounded by SRA buildings, all 360 degree. Suddenly, there is gloom in our hearts, we feel betrayed by the Builder, the Government and our Fate. The sheen is all gone, the roads are bad… and, even the autowalas refuse to come to this place. Why am I telling all this? Just yesterday, my wife told me that she met a lady who was shy to tell my wife that she lived in our vicinity. Incidentally, this lady did not know my wife too lived in the same area. When my wife told her that, the lady was very ‘relieved’ . How proud I would have felt to tell some one that I lived in Peddar Road or Pali Hill! Yes, sometimes, I feel like ‘bluffing’. A young friend of mine lived wit...