Snakes Alive…just where did those rockin’ sixties go?
Why is this gorgeous serpent challenging us with that wicked look? I’d like to think it’s because—in the mythological consciousness of earth folk—the snake represents both death and rebirth, torment as well as wisdom; wisely, it shucks off its old skin when it’s time for a change, and reveals a strikingly patterned new sheath right beneath. And yet, while this fascinating creature symbolizes the higher wisdom that should naturally arise with the passage of time, how many of us focus on spiritual evolution?
And now 2014 is here, begging the six trillion rupee question: what do you plan to do with me, honey? Don’t watch out, and I’ll be gone in the metaphorical wink of an eye…an evanescent dream, a fistful of fairy dust, a wisp of cirrus…no different than all those other years that have sped past since you slipped out of your mama’s womb.
Time passes so swiftly that I sometimes look back on distant events and wonder whether I dreamed them up. What happened, for instance, to that hip era when the beautiful people were using psychedelics and raving about spotting Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds? Oh no, here I go again, dating myself falsely…truth be told, when the Beatles exploded on to the international music scene, I was but a mewling puking infant—as the Bard of Avon so fondly described little ones; if I even thought about beetles at the time, you can bet they were the creepy crawly kind.
Cutting to the chase, what brought humanity from there to here? Time did. And here we are again, with yet another artificially packaged segment of three hundred and sixty-five days stretching tantalizingly ahead.
I’ve come to view time as my most precious asset—and for this I bow my head to a guru whose teachings jacked me out of Manhattan’s mainstream melee and set me loose in an uncertain world—so I could uncover the truth of my greater Self before I got too doddery to care about anything but where I’d left my dentures.
Let me turn back the metaphorical clock to the mid-90s so you can get an idea of how my radical guru (at the time) harangued his flock: hey, people, think you’re pretty cool, do ya? Earning big bucks in the Big Apple, armed with an all-black wardrobe, and noshing at a new bistro every night, right? Some of you even have impressive titles, doncha? Heh heh heh…I hope that while you’re sweatin’ so hard to look slick, you won’t forget the price you’re paying…which is the one thing no one can ever recompense you for—your precious time! Beware, people! Corporate slavery takes a heavy toll on body and mind and dims inner fire….if you really want to figure out the big stuff—the meaning of life, death and whether there is such a thing as enlightenment—start your inner journey now!
I listened to him. I truly did. As a result, after trying to escape angst in a variety of self-destructive ways, killing time (and myself into the bargain) is no longer an option. And yet millions of earth’s privileged continue to spend hours every day watching cable that titillates but leaves one feeling drained; quotidian hours drift by aimlessly surfing the internet; and corporate and other slaves frantically work their personal treadmills so they can pay for their addictions to technology, gourmet food, designer wear and whatnot.
Most of us forget that vast numbers of humanity teeter on the edge of survival, minus the luxury of time and resources with which we’ve been graced; we forget—and this applies even to those of us with dependents—that we can choose to live simpler lives, and drop the burden of worrying about what the rest of this ephemeral world thinks of us. (Truth is, the Mugginses are so frenetically engaged in trying to kill time themselves they have little to spare for anyone else…unless, of course, you are a celebrity, relishing those fifteen minutes of fame Andy Warhol spoke of with possibly mingled foresight and disdain.)
So, if you’re not doing what you really want to be doing—that which evokes deep inner satisfaction—there’s no time like today to start. One thing I can promise you is that while the initial going can get rough, you won’t regret it.
Oh, and before I forget, this post is also to THANK every one of you from the heart for supporting our blog….and to let you know that we have decided to take a break in order to focus on other projects. Raj—who handles the technical side of things and so much more—plans to deepen his Vichara (Self-Investigation) here in the sacred shadow of Arunachala; I will be doing that too, as well as plunging into working out the kinks in my second novel, Krishna’s Counsel—Metaphysical Crime Fiction, set both in India and in Manhattan.
Here is the rough back cover text for Krishna’s Counsel:
Krishna’s Counsel sweeps you back into the sleepy 1960s in Bangalore, south India, into the heart and mind of a fiery young girl whose domestic circumstances begin to disintegrate under the sword-thrusts of emotional dysfunction and eerie death. Pia flowers into womanhood desperately seeking peace; fortunately her Uncle Hari introduces her to a magnificent view of eastern philosophy, partly epitomized by the poignant scene in the Bhagavad Gita when Lord Krishna advises the quailing warrior Prince Arjuna to pick up his great bow Gandiva and rout the corrupt foe, regardless of the consequences. And yet Pia is so overcome by her demons that she abandons her roots and elopes to Manhattan with an American businessman. A decade later Pia is tracked down in the Big Apple and informed that her father is dead and that she is his only heir. Compelled to return to south India to deal with the legal aspects of her inheritance, Pia struggles to cope with a phalanx of old ghosts when horror strikes again—and she is forced by supernatural agents to heed the timeless advice of Lord Krishna as she finds herself on the trail of a charming psychopath who will stop at nothing to kill her….
I do hope that when this saga emerges from my creative womb, you will enjoy both the temporal and mystical adventures of Pia at least as much as I am enjoying writing about them.
Happy 2014!
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