Iss Saal Phir Dil Maange More....

Don't you just love to have more? Much more really, more of Money, more of fun, more of all that we like. In fact, except for Kiran More, (of whom I definitely want to see no more in the selection board) generally more mores can be merrier. Quite so!

The perpetual demand for more is not just restricted to the realms of the mundane material. We demand more from everyone, parents, children, colleagues, bosses, govenment (that is a joke and you are expected to chuckle, thank you) and even God. Take Jesus and Mary Magdalene for instance, that Jesus saved all of us and Mary is one of his foremost apostles in known and accepted. But we are often driven to think that there have been more, maybe they were married! The number of books written on this one subject is phenomenal, by far the most popular being the fictionalized treatment provided by Dan Brown. Personally, I am happy that this research is happening, I have always felt that the Magdalene was treated unfairly by history. Anyway on the commercial front, France, where the Sang raal supposedly ended up and royal bloodline is reputed to have continued, has derived a booming tourist business from this want of more of The Mary who married The Lord. For centuries.

One doesn't even have to go back so far in history, it seems that some miracle has to be attributed to Mother Teresa for her to attain sainthood! This is so ridiculous! Isn't her being born and coming to Calcutta a miracle of the first degree in itself? No, the world wants More. I don't know about the suits (or robes or whatever the Vatican bureaucrats wear) Mother Teresa is already a saint for all whose lives she has touched and all who have been inspired by her.

All this is well-n-good, but is there more to life itself? The perpetual question that haunts intellectual, wannabe intellectuals and pseudo intellectuals alike. What do the Upanishads mean when they talk of the underlying unity of all creation, the all pervading Brahaman? What of the Ishwara, who is supposedly the personification of the mighty Brahaman and why can't I find Him in the pages of all the weighty books I read?

I don't make new year resolutions anymore, one, I am old and can't think of new and good ones and second they don't really last longer than the first week of January anyway. The reason that these resolutions fail is because such resolutions usually are typically made with the intent of "Lessening or Curbing" - for instance, this year I shall eat less carbs, I shall be less lazy, I shall gnaw the toe in my mouth a little less and so on. All these come to a naught for as we all know from the good Pepsi commercial - Yeh Dil Maange More...

So this year I have made a new year's eve proclamation that I am going to have More

- More of silence, and when I do speak, speak more about Krishna, Sing his glory.
- More of contemplation and Meditation on Krishna name
- More quality time spent with this Atman guy who is supposed to lurking somewhere inside of me (heaven knows doing what!) for he allegedly has the capability of leading one to the Truth!

And as the good book says - the Truth shall set you free.

Happy New Year Everyone.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare