Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Some concerned friends are sending me every morning tips on keeping myself happy.  I don’t know why they think I am an unhappy person. Maybe my blog posts give that impression. Isn’t every writer an unhappy person?  Before I come to that, let me state honestly that I don’t consider myself a writer.  A blogger, that’s all.  One among the millions.  But one who takes interest in the world’s affairs.  Affairs that matter.  Such as politics, religion and their myriad combinations which rule the roost today. Perilously. The peril is not my personal tragedy.  It is the tragedy of the world.  When Kashmir burns, it is not my personal tragedy.  When people die there, being killed by Islamic terrorists or Indian soldiers, it is not my personal tragedy.  When people kill one another all over the world in the name of gods and other illusions, it’s not my personal tragedy. Yes, I am unhappy.  But not in my personal life.  I’m unhappy about what’s happening in the world.  I’m un

Holy men are detached from everything.  Attachment is a sin that arises from ignorance.  Ignorance prevents us from attaining the realisation that everything on the earth is maya, illusion. Ordinary mortals live in illusion.  So they are attached.  Attached to their family.  To money.  Possessions.  Holy men are not attached to anything.  That’s why they don’t even marry.  They are not attached to people.  But, as some jester said, even holy men have one flaw or another.  Otherwise they wouldn’t be just holy; they would be gods. We don’t know if the jester is entirely right.  The jester is just an ordinary mortal.  And he is making a judgment about a mortal many times greater than him.  If a man many times greater has at least one flaw, if not more, then how many flaws does an ordinary mortal like the jester suffer from?  Simple logic makes us suspect the jester’s claim.  He being an ordinary mortal suffers from many flaws.  Therefore his logic must suffer from many fla

One of the best novels I’ve read about the human pursuit of enlightenment is Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha .  Set in ancient India, it tells the story of Siddhartha who leaves both the comforts and the religious rituals of a Brahmin’s life in order to seek enlightenment.  He joins the wandering ascetics known as Samanas.  But the hardships of that asceticism as well as its teachings fail to bring enlightenment to Siddhartha.  He meets Gotama Buddha eventually.  The Buddha is a really enlightened man.  But he cannot enlighten Siddhartha.  Enlightenment cannot be taught; it has to be experienced.  That’s what Siddhartha learns. “ That is why I am going on my way—not to seek another doctrine, for I know there is none, but to leave all doctrines and all teachers and to reach my goal alone—or die.”  Siddhartha tells the Buddha.  He has to experience enlightenment in his own way.  Doctrines and dogmas, rituals and rigours can’t bring enlightenment.  Enlightenment is a personal achievemen