Vision

We learnt in physics and biology that an inverted image of what is in front of us falls on the retina. And the brain, very smartly, turns it upside down and sees it.

Seriously? That retina is the last point where the object exists as a light pattern. The rods and cones in the retina are energised, the photovoltaic pulses travel to the optic nerve and stream to the brain where..... what happens? Well, the optic centre in the brain is receiving only pulses, like dots and dashes of morse, and the mind simply CONSTRUCTS a reality inside the mind itself. In that sense what we "see" is not really what is falling as an inverted image on the retina. Who knows what that shape and form and colour is actually.

No wonder the scriptures call this world mithya. This is one of the reasons or angles through which the world is so called, the perceived being probably quite different from the actual. There are other philosophical reasons for calling it maya as well, but even at this simplistic level, I find the above thought mind-boggling.

What do you think?

Visitors

What do I find interesting in a temple?

Paying respect to the idol is a five-minute occupation. After that I watch the visitors. Sometimes the person is alone, or with family, or with children. Whatever he may be outside the premises, in the temple, he has come to meet his personal god.

No tension in the face, no impatience with a restless child, no lack of courtesy in the queue, no ego in prostration, no shame in prayer,  no greed at the prosaad, no lethargy in walking around the building. All visitors merge into this mass of characteristics, undivided, bhakta. That is where I glimpse the divine.

Gods don't make a place of worship. Devotees do.